Govt plans centralised purchase for Ayushman; medical devices on GeM soon

The central government may soon start “collective bargaining” for medical devices that are used by hospitals for procedures covered under its flagship Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY). 

The idea is to procure essential medical devices such as cardiac stents at a lower cost and put them on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM), from where the empanelled hospitals can buy. 

At present, PMJAY does not have any system of centralised procurement of medicines or devices. The scheme has a defined annual benefit cover of Rs 5 lakh per family for hospitalisation. It follows an insurance model and aims to cover 10