World's largest healthcare programme Coming Soon

New Delhi, Mar 22: Here is the Good News for the Indian People, as The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Narendra Modi government's much touted 'Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission' (AB-NHPM), under which over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families of the country will get free health insurance benefits.

IT is touted by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as the world's largest healthcare programme. It is estimated to cost about Rs12,000 crore annually.

The scheme was originally divided into two parts: the opening up of 1.5 lakh primary health and wellness centres and the launch of the National Health Protection Mission (NHPM), under which poor families will get Rs 5 lakh health cover per year.

The Ayushman Bharat - National Health Protection Mission will subsume all the centrally-sponsored health schemes, including Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and the Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme (SCHIS).

Once officially launched, the programme could provide a big boost to Prime Minister Modi-led BJP's election prospects in 2019 Lok Sabha polls.