Hospital admissions worth Rs 1.19 lakh cr authorised under AB-PMJAY: Nadda

New Delhi, Feb 7 (PTI) A total of 8.59 crore hospital admissions worth Rs 1.19 lakh crore have been authorised under the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) as on January 1, Union Health Minister J P Nadda said on Friday.

Underlining that steps are taken for prevention and detection of different kinds of fraud in the implementation of the scheme, he said suitable actions, including de-empanelment of 1,114 hospitals, levying penalty worth Rs 122 crore on 1,504 errant hospitals and suspension of 549 hospitals have been taken against fraudulent entities.

In a written response to a question in Lok Sabha, he said the National Anti-Fraud Unit (NAFU) has been established at National Health Authority and works in close coordination with State Anti-Fraud Units (SAFU) to investigate and take joint action against issues related to fraud and abuse.

Further, any claims by empanelled hospitals found to be suspicious by NAFU are withheld until proper scrutiny by SAFU teams, including field verification where necessary.

As on February 4, nine doctors and 71 hospitals have been suspended under the scheme in Gujarat. Additionally, two hospitals have been de-empanelled and one hospital has been blacklisted.

A total recovery of Rs 15.08 crore has been made, while penalties amounting to Rs 19.90 crore have been imposed, Nadda stated.

The AB-PMJAY is a flagship scheme of the government which provides health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to approximately 55 crore beneficiaries corresponding to 12.37 crore families constituting economically vulnerable bottom 40 per cent of India’s population.

Recently, the scheme has been expanded to cover 6 crore senior citizens of age 70 years and above belonging to 4.5 crore families irrespective of their socio-economic status under AB-PMJAY.