Introduction :- 

his scheme was earlier announced in 2018 budget speech as PM Jan Arogya Abhiyan within the umbrella scheme of Ayushman Bharat (National Health Protection Mission). A miniature version of this scheme is already going on in Telangana from years. The entire IT platform used for this scheme will be outsourced from there.PMJAY has become the first healthcare scheme with Privacy policy.

PMJAY and Data Protection :

Since the scheme is based on Aadhar, several recommendations of Srikrishna Committee has been incorporated and Right to Privacy has been kept intact. The scheme will have its own Data Privacy Policy (Psudonymisation, anonymistaion and data minimisation, etc. will be done along with encryption, firewalls, etc. at various level). Digital health data will not be disclosed for commercial purposes, or to insurers, employers, or pharma companies. People will have right to request access to copies of their personal data, information on the processing activities carried out with it, request restriction of access or even withdraw consent.

Digital health data will not be disclosed for commercial purposes, or to insurers, employers, or pharma companies. People will have right to request access to copies of their personal data, information on the processing activities carried out with it, request restriction of access or even withdraw consent.

National Health Agency will be its implementing authority. There will be a provision of Rs 5 lakh per annum as health assurance (no premium to be paid by beneficiary) for each family and free of cost treatment for serious diseases.  The cashless benefits can be availed from any public or private empaneled hospital across India. However, the payment will be done on Package rate basis (involving secondary and tertiary care) defined by Government. This will be the world’s largest government-sponsored healthcare scheme (10 Crore family or 50 Crore people) covering a population the size of the US, Canada and Mexico. People in SECC will get automatically enrolled in this scheme.  States are free to choose the mode of implementation, which could either be insurance-based, trust-route or mixed model.

Benefits of the scheme:

It will provide good quality, affordable healthcare to all, new infrastructure in tier II and III cities will reduce regional disparity, role of middle men and money lender will decrease and employment opportunities will be created in health and IT sector. It will be a Rights based approach and will help migrant communities as well.

Challenges :

• Smooth coordination between Centre and State will be required.
• Smooth coordination between ministries and various schemes will also be required e.g. National Skill Development Corporation and National Health Agency has recently signed an MoU for skill development of Arogyamitras under PMJAY.
• States will have to develop a robust IT System. Only Six States have the administrative and technological capacity to implement this scheme now.
• Data Privacy is an emerging concept, and therefore the system will have to evolve in accordance with the development in technology and use/disclosure of data to private sector will require strict regulation.
• The system is based on Artificial Intelligence. Therefore, an ethical algorithm will be required so that the system does not discriminate on the basis of religion, caste, class, sex, etc.