Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma while delivering the Assam Budget 2018 on Monday, March 12 announced the launch of a cashless health program covering 3 crore population in April 2018. The minister claimed that this program would be among the biggest universal healthcare program in the country and a budget of Rs 400 crores have been allocated for the same.
Earlier, the Atal Amrit Abhiyan was launched in December 2016 to make quality healthcare accessible to all. "Over 1.6 crore beneficiaries have already been enrolled in the Atal Amrit Abhiyan so far," informed Himanta Biswa Sarma while announcing the State Budget.
He further informed that each beneficiary over 18 years of age has been given a laminated card with a unique identification number and the health department have captured the biometrics of each and every enrolled beneficiary for identification. It is envisaged that almost 92% of Assam’s total population will be covered by this scheme and when fully implemented, it would be one of the largest such universal health assurance schemes in world catering to both Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line (APL) population.
The Atal Amrit Abhiyan is an ambitious critical care health assurance scheme for citizens of Assam. It covers health insurance for more than 90% of the population for critical, high cost procedures in a total of 6 disease groups.