Title: Get Cracking
Two years ago in the Budget a health protection scheme offering a cover of ₹1 lakh per family, but ultimately that did not extend beyond ₹30,000.
With the announcement of Ayushman Bharat in Budget 2018 has the components of opening health centers for diagnostics, care and distribution of essential drugs as envisaged in the National Health Policy, and a National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) to provide a cover of up to ₹5 lakh each for 10 crore poor and vulnerable families for hospitalization.
Some States already purchase health cover for the poor, but do not regulate private secondary and tertiary care services or treatment costs. The task before the Centre, which has provided ₹3,200 crore for the programme areas, is to now draw up an implementation roadmap.
Key Challenges:
Transfer of resources to provinces, recruitment of health personnel, and purchase and distribution of medicines to the chosen units.
• The steady growth of a for-profit tertiary care sector poses the additional challenge of arriving at a basic care package for those who are covered by the NHPS, at appropriate costs.
• A national health system will also have to subsume all existing state-funded insurance schemes.
• This will give beneficiaries access not just within a particular State but across the country to empanelled hospitals.
• In the case of the local health centres that are planned under the Ayushman Bharat programme, there is tremendous potential to play a preventive role by reducing the incidence and impact of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.
• Such centres can dispense free essential medication prescribed by all registered doctors and procured through a centralised agency.
• But the efficiency of a large-scale health system depends on strict regulation.
• The early experience with state-funded insurance for the poor shows that some private hospitals may resort to unnecessary tests and treatments to inflate claims.
• Determination of treatment costs by the government is therefore important.
1. How many districts of UP are there in the NCR region?
8 (Ghaziabad, Hapur, Baghpat, Meerut, Gautam Budh Nagar, Bulandsheher, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli)
2. Which state has the maximum state boundary with UP?
Madhya Pradesh
3. Which state has the minimum state boundary with UP?
Himachal Pradesh
4. Which city of UP is surrounded from three sides by Madhya Pradesh?
Lalitpur
5. Which city of UP is bordered from Uttarakhand, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh?
Saharanpur
6. Longest Canal of UP?
Sharda
7. National park Of UP?
Dudhwa National Park
8. Indian Veterinary Research Institute is located in which city?
Bareilly
Vocabulary Words:
Obsolete (adj) = Outdated (अप्रचलित)
Revive (verb) = Restore to life or consciousness
Concrete (adj) = Solid, physical (ठोस)
Proliferation (noun) = Growth, escalation (प्रसार)
Shelve (verb) = Stay, suspend (बरख़ास्त किया हुआ)
Baton (noun) = Stick, rod (छड़ी)
Envisage (verb) = Predict, anticipate (परिकल्पना करना)
Set off (phrasal verb) = To begin, start (आरंभ करना)
Pave the way (idiom) = Make progress or development easier
Dilute (verb) = Make weaker in force (कम करना)
Lucre (noun) = Money, especially gained in a dishonorable way (धन)
Indigenous (adj) = Originating in a particular place (स्वदेशी)
Stringent (adj) = Strict, firm (कड़ी से कड़ी)
Stare (verb) = Look fixedly or vacantly at someone or something (घूरना)
Fragment (verb) = Shatter, break (खंडित)
Procure (verb) = Obtain, acquire (प्राप्त)
Inflate (verb) = Increase by a large or excessive amount
