Our health model is not limited to Rs 5 lakhs: Arvind Kejriwal ranks Delhi model above Ayushman Bharat Yojana

Former Delhi Chief Minister and Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal reiterated on Wednesday that the Delhi healthcare model is better than the central government's Ayushman Bharat Yojana and highlighted that this model is not limited to Rs 5 lakhs.

Arvind Kejriwal, while speaking in a press conference, said, "According to CAG, there are many scams in the Ayushman Bharat Yojna. As per the Ayushman Bharat Yojna, a patient will get Rs 5 lakhs after being admitted to the hospital, but in Delhi, every kind of treatment is free, and our treatment is not limited to Rs 5 lakhs."

Kejriwal's remarks came after Prime Minister Modi criticised the Delhi and West Bengal governments for failing to implement the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme out of "political interests."



Notably, Delhi and West Bengal are among the states where the Centre's Ayushman Bharat Yojna is not implemented.

PM Modi stated that the walls of the political interests have hindered its implementation in their states.

"I apologise to all the elderly people above 70 years of age in Delhi and all the elderly people above 70 years of age in West Bengal that I will not be able to serve you. I apologise to them that I will know how you are. I will get the information but I will not be able to help you and the reason is that the government in Delhi and the government in West Bengal are not joining this Ayushman Yojana. Elderly in Delhi, Bengal won't be able to benefit from Ayushman Bharat as their governments are not implementing it for political reasons," the PM said.

Earlier on Tuesday, the former Delhi Chief Minister reacted sharply to PM Modi's criticism of the Delhi government for not implementing the Ayushman Bharat scheme and said it was wrong of him to politicize public health issues.


"It is not right to speak wrongly on the issue of people's health. It is not right to do politics on this," said Arvind Kejriwal in a post on X.


In a post on his X handle, Kejriwal posted, "Under the Delhi government's scheme, every person living in Delhi gets complete treatment free of cost no matter how much it costs - from a pill worth five rupees to a treatment worth one crore, the Delhi government provides complete treatment to every person free of cost. If you tell me, I will send you the names of lakhs of people who have benefitted from this. Did people benefit from the Ayushman Bharat Yojana?"

The Ayushman Bharat Yojana is a scheme that aims to procure free access to health insurance coverage for families with low incomes. The scheme was launched in 2018 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.