On September 17, the day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday, the health ministry will launch the "Ayushman Bhav" national campaign.
According to officials, the campaign's goal is to connect with those who are supposed to benefit from government programmes carried out under the auspices of Ayushman Bharat. It will run for a fortnight. President Droupadi Murmu will reportedly open the campaign on September 13, but ground operations won't begin until September 17. “Several activities have been planned to enhance healthcare accessibility and awareness during the fortnight ending on October 2,” health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said.
The campaign will consist of three main components: "Ayushman Apke Dwar" to create and distribute Ayushman cards to all remaining eligible beneficiaries; "Ayushman Mela" at the level of health and wellness centres and community health centres; and "Ayushman Sabha" to raise awareness of various healthcare programmes and services at the village/ward level.
All field-level health staff along with Aanganwadi workers have been roped in to spread awareness about the campaign and mobilise people. Ayushman Bharat was launched, as recommended by National Health Policy 2017, to achieve the vision of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed by this project, according to the National Health Authority, which has been tasked with carrying out the programme nationally.
Under the scheme, the government has announced creation of 150,000 Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) by transforming the existing sub centres and primary health centres. Another important undertaking is to provide health cover of Rs 500,000 per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to over 120 million poor and vulnerable families (approximately 550 million beneficiaries).