Over 1 crore Ayushman Bharat-Arogya Karnataka cards, which cover 50% of the eligible population of Karnataka, will be distributed by December, said Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar.

Speaking to reporters, Minister Sudhakar said that one crore cards have been prepared in a very short period of time. Karnataka has emerged as a model state in the whole country in terms of distributing Ayushman Bharat cards. Ayushman Bharat cards will be distributed soon to all eligible people under the leadership of Chief Minister Basavaraja Bommai.

Karnataka has been proactive in extending its healthcare services and providing the best possible health coverage to all its residents. With the aim of Universal Health Coverage, Karnataka launched the Arogya Karnataka scheme on 2-3-2018 to provide free and cashless primary, secondary & tertiary health care for all the BPL patients with a family floater limit of Rs. 2 Lakhs / year /family and 30% subsidised co-payment package to APL patients in higher Government and Empanelled Private Hospitals. This ensures families are protected from catastrophic health expenditure. The scheme provided coverage for 1530 in patient procedures.

Chikkabalapur, Haveri and Bangaluru Rural districts have performed exceedingly well and registrations have already reached around 1/3rd of their target population.

The Health Department officials are successfully campaigning and educating people to register for the cards. As of November 11, registration of one crore cards has been successfully completed. Such a significant achievement is due to the joint efforts of District Collectors, Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officers, District Health Officers and District Leprosy Department officers. Minister Sudhakar also stated that DHOs and DLOs are also conducting regular progress checks.

The continuous effort of the EDCS department is commendable and efforts are being made to reach the daily target in Gram One centers. Large scale camps are also being organized for this. Operators are working non-stop from 6 am to 11 pm despite many technical issues. Along with door-to-door registration campaigns, technical hurdles are being resolved with the help of NHA. Minister Sudhakar said that the aim is to distribute AB-ARK cards to all eligible people by next March.

With the objective of providing healthcare facilities to all, the state government had launched the “Arogya Karnataka” scheme on March 2, 2018. Under this scheme, treatment was provided at the primary, secondary and tertiary level hospitals at a subsidized rate upto Rs 2 lakh per year for BPL families and 30% of the entire cost for APL families. At the same time, the central government launched its ambitious project [Universal Health Coverage] with the same goal and the same objective, Minister Sudhakar said.

As the national scheme was more comprehensive and beneficial, the scheme was implemented under the name `”Ayushman Bharat-Arogya Karnataka”. Implemented in the true spirit of the Universal Health Coverage scheme, AB-PMJAY-ARK cards will be distributed to all 5.09 crore eligible citizens. AB-PMJAY is a national scheme and registration process is going on in every state. The minister said that they have also started a campaign to create co-branded cards.