Health Ministry signs MoU with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to facilitate access of AB–NHPM to the last mile

National Health Agency (NHA) under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the apex body for the implementation of Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM), and Common Service Centres (CSC) scheme under the Digital India Programme, have signed an MoU to provide information and eligibility validation services to beneficiaries, especially in remote areas. Shri J P Nadda, Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Law and Justice & Information Technology presided over the MoU signing ceremony. As the benefits under AB-NHPM are based on entitlement and not on enrolment, over 3 lakh CSCs spread across the rural India can become the key point of information for potential beneficiaries and help in validating their entitlement.

The MoU was signed by Dr. Indu Bhushan, CEO, National Health Agency (NHA) and Dr. Dinesh Tyagi, CEO, CSC-SPV.

Shri JP Nadda, Union Health Minister said “With this MoU, the dream of Digital India is taking a big leap.  In Ayushman Bharat shall benefit 55 Cr people across the country. The 3 lakh CSCs in 2.5 lakh Panchayats shall be a great help in the implementation of the scheme. ” He added, “I am confident that CSCs would be a big milestone in the access of universal healthcare in our country.”

Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad said that, “Today, I am very happy that CSC VLEs are going to be the soldiers of healthcare-Ayushman Bharat in India. The identity and registrations of beneficiaries would be done through CSCs. I would like to congratulate Shri J.P. Nadda that his ministry has chosen CSCs for the implementation of the largest healthcare scheme of the world.”

Dr. Indu Bhushan, CEO, National Health Agency (NHA), said that this integration will not only create more accessibility and transparency in the beneficiary validation process, but will also spread awareness among the targeted beneficiaries. The network of CSCs is the cornerstone of Digital India and they will provide support to the flagship mission for building a healthy India.

AB-NHPM targets approximately 10.74 crore poor, deprived families and has identified occupational category of urban workers’ families as per the latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data, for both rural and urban India. CSC will be provided access to Beneficiary Identification System (BIS), which helps in confirming application from ‘entitled’ beneficiaries using SECC and RSBY databases. Validation of entitled beneficiary through BIS will ensure timely information upto the last mile, facilitating benefits under Ayushman Bharat. The BIS has already been designed and pilot testing is underway across various States.