Covid-19 crisis: Private hospitals get a lifeline from Ayushman Bharat

Scheme has on-boarded 1,000 new hospitals in the last one month

Small private hospitals, struggling to survive because of a sharp drop in patient footfall -- and hence revenue -- are seeing a lifeline in the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY).
 

The Centre's flagship scheme, which gives annual healthcare benefits of up to Rs 5 lakh for every entitled family, has on-boarded about 1,000 new hospitals, mostly private, in the last one month, even as the number of cases it handled fell by 60 per cent. It is also expected that 200-1,000 diagnostic tests a day (for Covid-19) would be conducted in coming months under the scheme. At the