Modicare's first test: Can 500 million beneficiaries be educated about it?

A month since it was formally unveiled, the healthcare program, 'Ayushman Bharat' has benefited 112,000 people and approved claims totaling Rs 1.4 billion

The world’s largest healthcare program in India is running up against a challenge: many of its 500 million beneficiaries don’t have a clue about it, as they didn’t have to enroll for it.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s solution is to tackle the problem at its roots. He is writing letters to 100 million families educating them about the benefits of the program, which automatically registered 40 per cent of India’s population that make up the bottom of the population as per the socio-economic caste census data, said Vinod K. Paul, a member of NITI Aayog, the government’s policy think tank.