Bhubaneswar, Jan 19: A national-level brainstorming session on Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jana Arogya Yojana (ABPMJAY) and Ayushman Bharat Digital Misson (ABDM) was inaugurated by Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Mukeash Mahaling here today.
Dr Mahaling said, “ABPMJAY, the outcome of National Health Policy-2017 launched by our visionary Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought a revolutionary transformation in healthcare scenario of the country. It is now the largest universal healthcare system of world”.
He added, around 42 percent of India’s bottom level population were brought under this healthcare system.
The program was launched in Odisha on 11 April, 2025. Within 9 months of its inauguration, Odisha stood 1st in distribution of ABPMJAY cards to the eligible person, and 5th in generation of Ayushman Vaya Vandana Yojana (AVVY) cards for the senior citizens of 70 and above years of age.
Further, Dr Mahaling said, in Odisha ABPMJAY was launched in convergence with State’s own scheme of Gopabandhu Jana Arogya Yojana (GJAY) in which each beneficiary family got entitled to cashless treatment of Rs. 5 lakh per year with additional provision of Rs.5 lakhs for female members of the family. All senior citizens above 70 and above years of age, irrespective of their economic category were also entitled for same benefit under AVVY.
Around 80 percent of the Odisha’s total 4.5 crore population was included under the converged scheme.
Dr Mahaling advised that this chintan shivir could deliberate over the possibilities of including Ayurvedic and Homeopathic packages in ABPMJAY along with the allopathic packages. Odisha started the process for implementing ABDM along with ABPMJAY. ABDM in the state would be implemented in line with ABDM guidelines of national health authority (NHA).
Chief Executive Officer NHA Dr Sunil Kumar Barnwal said that digital platform of ABPMJAY and ABDM was so designed that many similar service delivery systems could be onboarded with it. The system keeps up a uniform and integrated pan-Indian health service delivery standard. The large data base that would be generated through ABDM would be very useful in disease mapping, disease surveillance along with preventive and promotive healthcare.
He also said that privacy, trust and security of data in ABDM were ensured to the highest degree.
The two-day Chintan Sivir has been slated with 6 sessions including 5 technical sessions. In the first day after inaugural session, deliberations were held on the topics like progress of ABPMJAY in different states, Ayushman App, online modules for card creation, action plan for ABDM, e-shushrut@clinic, Arogya Setu App, drug registry, methodology of implementation of ABDM in empaneled hospitals, national anti-fraud system to check and prevent any possible unfair practice.
In the inaugural session, three MoUs were signed that include MoUs between NHA and BHASINI for multilingual access for health service, NHA and Indian Institute of Sciences for collaborative research, and NHA and National Accreditation Board of Hospitals (NABH) for upkeeping of national standards at the level of health facilities.
Health and Family Welfare Secretary Aswathy S gave the welcome address on 1st day of the Sivir. CEO NHA Sunil Kumar Barnwal, Principal Secretary Health Rajsthan Gayatri Rathore, Principal Secretary Health Meghalaya Sampath Kumar, Financial Advisor NHA Ghayas Uddin Ahmed, Managing Director ABDM Kiran Gopal Vaska along with 119 delegates and senior officers from 27 States and 7 UTs deliberated on the topics. Mission Director NHM Odisha and CEO State Health Assurance Society Dr Brudha D. coordinated this national event hoisted in Odisha.
