TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ The ambitious National Health Protection Scheme under which Rs 5 lakh medical insurance cover will be provided annually to 10 crore poor and vulnerable families in the country announced in the Budget 2018-19 will be implemented by the end of this year, finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday.
Presenting his last full budget before the general elections due in early 2019, Jaitley provided a relatively small allocation of Rs 2,000 crore for the Ayushman Bharat health scheme for what he described as the world’s largest government-funded healthcare programme. It aims to cover 50 crore poor people with medical insurance.
“I believe that once the work starts, the scheme will be fully implemented by the end of the year,” Jaitley said while replying to the discussion on the Budget in the Rajya Sabha. In a post-Budget briefing on February 1, finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia had said it would take another six months for the scheme to be worked out and may not be implemented for the entire financial year.
