Congratulations to the Indian government on the first 100 days of @AyushmanNHA: Bill Gates tweeted (File)
A day after Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates congratulated the Indian government for the successful completion of the first 100 days of the healthcare scheme Ayushman Bharat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked Mr Gates for appreciating the scheme on Thursday.
Ayushman Bharat "stems out of our commitment to provide top quality and affordable healthcare to the poor", PM Modi said in his response to the tweet.
The response from Mr Gates came after Union Health Minister JP Nadda informed that 6,85,000 beneficiaries have availed free health care in just first 100 days of the scheme and the number is rising rapidly.
"Congratulations to the Indian government on the first 100 days of @AyushmanNHA. It's great to see how many people have been reached by the program so far. @PMOIndia", Mr Gates had tweeted.
The scheme, which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Ranchi in Jharkhand on September 23, aims to provide health cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family annually to more than 10.74 crore poor families or 50 crore people for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation through a network of empanelled health care providers.
In 100 days, seven lakh poor people have received treatment under the Pradhan Mantri Ayushmaan Bharat scheme, he said.
(With inputs from Agencies)