The government body entrusted with implementation of the national health protection scheme – Ayushman Bharat is partnering with cab-hailing company Uber to promote it along with reaching out to the 5 lakh Uber drivers, many of whom are eligible for the scheme but haven’t received their golden cards meant for such beneficiaries of the scheme, The Indian Express reported.
The National Health Authority (NHA) will enter into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Uber sometime this week.
As per the MoU, while PMJAY branding will be displayed on Uber vehicles, it will not involve any payment from the NHA.
“We are using all possible channels for reaching out to our potential beneficiaries. Getting to the last person in the line is not easy and will require partnerships and some out-of-the-box thinking,” said Ayushman Bharat CEO Dr Indu Bhushan.
The scheme provides annual health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family to 10.74 crore poor families.
So far, around 1 crore golden cards have been distributed which means Ayushman Bharat (PMJAY) scheme has covered about five crores people of its intended 50 crore target.
NHA is also looking to tie up with other such businesses including Swiggy, Zomato, Airbnb and Oyo to publicise Ayushman Bharat and have access to their staff — the delivery boys and the cleaning staff.
The scheme was launched by PM Modi in September last year with its national portability feature focusing on people who move out from their native places. The feature allows people residing anywhere in India to avail free treatment at any empanelled hospital across the country.
Reaching out to 5 lakh Uber drivers mean that the scheme would reach 25 lakh people.
For now Uber will set up Partner Seva Kendras in 10 cities such as Gurgaon, Delhi, Noida, Pune, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Jaipur.
The verification process of beneficiaries was carried out at the Panchayat level via the rural development ministry’s Gram Swaraj Abhiyan over multiple months in 2018.
Based on the data of the socio-economic caste census, the list automatically includes names of families that don’t have shelter, are destitute/living on alms, are manual scavengers or primitive tribal groups or legally released bonded labourers.
The Cabinet in January this year had approved the re-structuring of NHA from National Health Agency earlier for efficient implementation of Ayushman Bharat scheme.