There were nine hospital admissions every minute across India in the first year of the government's flagship Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme, which has crossed the 50 lakh treatment mark.
According to official data, free secondary and tertiary treatment worth Rs 7,901 crore has been carried out in the 32 states and Union territories already implementing the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (PMJAY) till October 14.
More than 60 per cent of the amount spent has been on tertiary care. Cardiology, orthopaedics, radiation oncology, cardio-thoracic and vascular surgery and urology emerged as the top tertiary specialities.
Lauding the progress of the scheme, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said, "The Ayushman Bharat family is growing by leaps and bounds. In just over one year, under PM-JAY more than 50 lakh treatments have been availed by beneficiaries across the country. The successful implementation of this scheme will help us take forward Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay's vision of 'Antyodaya' the upliftment of the last man."