PM said it is important to fight malnutrition "as when the child is healthy the country will be healthy".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said benefits of government schemes were availed of by few aware citizens and middlemen in the past but now the government delivers such benefits at the doorstep of the eligible people.
In his virtual address at the function to distribute PMJAY-MA (Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana-Ma Amrutam) Yojana cards in Gandhinagar, the prime minister also underlined the need to fight malnutrition.
He said it is important to fight malnutrition "as when the child is healthy the country will be healthy".
"Under previous governments, they used to meet in a big convention centre to announce a scheme, light a lamp, and leaders used to give good lectures and that's all. After that only a few aware citizens and middlemen used to get the benefits of such schemes. The benefits hardly used to reach the needy people," Prime Minister Modi said.
The prime minister said his government has changed this practice.
"Now, the government goes to every house, identifies beneficiaries and gives benefits of the scheme to the eligible people," he said.
Prime Minister Modi said, "we cannot live with malnutrition among children". Gujarat government is doing a good job to fight malnutrition, he said.
On the occasion, the prime minister appreciated the enormity of the campaign of distributing 50 lakh PMJAY-MA cards to the people in Gujarat.
"We have been hearing about health insurance in many countries of the world but India is going beyond that to ensuring health assurance," he said.
The PM said around 4 crore poor patients in the country, including 50 lakh from Gujarat, have so far availed the benefit of this health scheme.
"Simply speaking, an Ayushman card is a Rs 5 lakh ATM. This is an ATM card that will keep giving benefits every year," Prime Minister Modi said.
Explaining the benefit of the scheme, the prime minister said if a person lives for 30-40 years, there will be a guarantee of Rs 1.5-2 crore worth of treatment in that period.
"Ayushman card will be your true friend, the biggest troubleshooter", he added.
As the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Prime Minister Modi had started the 'Mukhyamantri Amrutam (MA)' scheme in 2012 to shield poor citizens from the higher costs of medical treatment and illness.
In the year 2014, the 'MA' Yojana was extended to cover families with an annual income limit of Rs. 4 lakh. The scheme was further extended to several other groups as well and later rebranded as Mukhyamantri Amrutam Vatsalya (MAV) Yojana. Drawing from the experience of the success of this scheme, the PM launched the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) in 2018 - the largest health insurance scheme in the world providing coverage of up to Rs. 5 lakh per family per year for primary, secondary and tertiary care hospitalization without any cap on the family size and age.
With the launch of the AB-PMJAY, Gujarat integrated MA Yojana with the AB-PM-JAY scheme in 2019 with the name PMJAY-MA Yojana and beneficiaries under MA and AB-PMJAY became eligible for co-branded PMJAY-MA cards.
During the programme, the Prime Minister kickstarted the distribution of these cards. A total of 50 lakh colour-printed Ayushman cards will be distributed to all the beneficiaries across Gujarat at their doorstep by the National Health Authority empanelled agencies after performing e-KYC of beneficiaries, an official release said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)