pc: indiatoday
Former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi after his remarks on non-implementation of Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme in Delhi and West Bengal. The 56-year-old AAP chief claimed that the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has found several irregularities in the Ayushman Bharat scheme and questioned its effectiveness compared to Delhi's healthcare model.
During a speech at the All India Institute of Ayurveda on Tuesday, PM Modi expressed disappointment over senior citizens being excluded from free healthcare in Delhi and Bengal, calling it a missed opportunity. In his speech he apologized to the elders of the capital and Bengal. The Prime Minister said, “I apologize to all the elderly people above 70 years of age in Delhi and West Bengal. I understand your pain, but I cannot help you because of the decisions of the state governments.”
Responding to Prime Minister Modi's criticism, Arvind Kejriwal argued in a post on X that Delhi's model provides comprehensive free healthcare for all, regardless of the cost of treatment, unlike the Ayushman Bharat scheme, which They claim that it has restrictive norms and is inadequately implemented.
The former Chief Minister of Delhi said- “Under the scheme of Delhi Government, every person living in Delhi gets complete treatment free of cost, no matter what is its cost – from a pill of five rupees to a treatment worth one crore, Delhi. The government provides complete treatment to every person free of cost. If you tell me, I will send you the names of lakhs of people who have benefited from it.”
After this he asked whether people benefit from Ayushman Bharat scheme.
Kejriwal said, “CAG has found many irregularities in the Ayushman Bharat scheme. In the states where the Ayushman scheme is implemented, till date I have not met a single person who has been treated under Ayushman Bharat. I request you That you study the Delhi model and implement the Delhi model all over India instead of the Ayushman Bharat scheme, so that people can get benefits at the grassroots level.”
AAP also said Ayushman Bharat was not serving the people effectively, with leaders alleging fraud. AAP leader Sanjay Singh said that due to the eligibility requirements of the scheme, many needy people become ineligible for it, including those who have basic amenities like refrigerators or motorcycles. Furthermore, he claimed that thousands of hospitals empaneled under the scheme exist “only on paper”, and hospitals providing actual treatment are allegedly not compensated by the central government.
Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj also echoed these sentiments and claimed that Ayushman Bharat is a “failed” scheme.
He further said that poor patients from states like UP, Haryana and Rajasthan where the scheme was implemented come to Delhi hospitals for surgeries.
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