ITANAGAR, 22 Jul: Proposals such as improvement in benefits under the Chief Minister Arogya Arunachal Yojna (CMAAY), empanelment of more hospitals in the Delhi NCR, and expansion of the beneficiary base were approved in a meeting of the governing body of the Chief Minister Arogya Arunachal Society (CMAAS), chaired by Chief Minister Pema Khandu and Health Minister Alo Libang here on Friday.
The CMAAS decided to “cover high-end procedures within the ceiling limit of Rs 5 lakhs under the CMAAY health benefit package,” and that the “TRIHMS will also receive a corpus fund/revolving fund to procure implants.”
It also decided to include more categories of beneficiaries under the scheme, such as members of the Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ), orphans, widows, and monks.
With this, the registered members of the APUWJ will be able to enroll under the CMAAY and receive benefits with entitlement similar to Group B officers, as per the CMAAY guidelines.
Since the CMAAY was a family-based scheme and could not accept applications from individuals for enrollment, a proposal for a separate category for individuals, to include monks, orphans and widows from the APST community, was approved.
The governing body further directed inclusion of state pensioners under the CMAAY.
Moreover, empanelment of seven high-demand hospitals in Delhi NCR, Assam, Karnataka and Kerala, such as the Institute of Liver Biliary Sciences Hospital (ILBS), Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi, the Aster CMI in Bangalore, and the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences in Kochi, were also approved in the meeting.
The CMAAS is a registered society under the government of Arunachal Pradesh, which was formed to implement and administer the CMAAY. Subsequently, it became the state’s health agency for implementation of the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) of the central government to provide health assurance benefits of upto Rs 5 lakhs per year to the beneficiary families.
In January 2021, it was designated as a state mission directorate for implementation of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, as well.
As per a report, over 1.32 lakh beneficiary families (5.6 lakhs individuals) are enrolled under the CMAAY and 29,763 beneficiary families (93,023 individuals) are verified under the AB PM-JAY till date.
Currently, 94 hospitals are empanelled under the CMAAY, including 28 hospitals outside the state and 62 hospitals in the state, under the AB PM-JAY.
Benefits of over Rs 47.6 crore to 20,220 patients under the CMAAY and more than Rs 4.6 crore to 3,042 patients under the AB PM-JAY have been availed by beneficiaries since the inception of the schemes.
