Ayushman Bharat card rollout in Bengal in July, 7 years after TMC withdrew scheme

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday announced that Ayushman Bharat health cards will be issued from July, marking the state’s return to the Centre’s flagship health insurance programme nearly seven years after the-then Mamata Banerjee government pulled out of it.

The announcement came after a virtual meeting between Adhikari and Union Health Minister JP Nadda.

According to Adhikari, around six crore beneficiaries currently covered under the state-run Swasthya Sathi scheme will be brought under Ayushman Bharat. He said the move would extend benefits not only to residents within West Bengal but also to people from the state who are working elsewhere in the country.

The Ayushman Bharat scheme was originally launched in West Bengal on September 23, 2018. But the-then Trinamool Congress government withdrew from the programme on January 10, 2019, choosing instead to focus on its own Swasthya Sathi health coverage model. A controversy had also erupted with the TMC slamming the Centre over the scheme branding and credit sharing.

As part of the renewed health push, Adhikari said the Centre had earmarked a central share of Rs 976 crore for Ayushman Bharat in West Bengal and that funds allocated over the previous two years but not accepted by the previous government would now be reimbursed.

The Chief Minister also announced a broader package of health interventions for the state. More than seven lakh vaccine doses will be supplied to West Bengal by the Centre, with the programme scheduled to be launched on May 30 from Bidhannagar Hospital in Kolkata.

A campaign aimed at making West Bengal TB-free will also begin, aligning the state with a programme already implemented in several other parts of the country.

In another major healthcare expansion measure in West Bengal, a proposal is being sent to the Centre to set up 468 Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendras (government-owned medical stores providing medicines at highly discounted rates) across the state. Adhikari said these outlets would offer medicines at discounts of 70-80 per cent, reducing out-of-pocket healthcare costs for patients.

The state will also focus on improving child health outcomes in seven districts where mortality among children below five years remains high. Recruitment of doctors, nurses and other health personnel is expected to be completed within the next three months, with health coverage targeted to rise from the current 53 per cent to at least 98 per cent.

Under the National Health Mission, West Bengal has been allocated Rs 2,103 crore, of which Rs 500 crore has already been released, Adhikari said.

During the election campaign, the BJP had repeatedly accused Mamata Banerjee of obstructing Ayushman Bharat and other central schemes and vowed to implement them if the saffron party came to power.

The BJP ended the TMC's 15-year reign in the eastern state, winning 208 of 294 Assembly seats, forming the government for the first time in West Bengal. The TMC suffered huge losses, with its tally dipping to 80.

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