To Assess the Knowledge, Awareness and Utilization of People Regarding PMJAY – Ayushman Bharat Yojana and Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana in Rural Areas of Rahata Taluka, Maharashtra

Author: Manmohan Sharma, Swanand D. Tilekar and Manasi V. Shelgaonkar

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Abstract

Providing affordable adequate primary, secondary and tertiary-level care is a major challenge in India, where the majority pay from pocket or rely on their assets. The government sought to prevent healthcare indebtedness through a nationwide health assurance scheme Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB – PMJAY) covering Rs. 5 lakhs per annum for Below Poverty Line (BPL) families per Socio-Economic Caste Census under which >50 crores Indians have been covered. Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MJPJAY), the Government of Maharashtra’s flagship health insurance scheme, covers Rs. 1.5 lakhs annually to BPL and APL families covering >60 lakh beneficiaries. Assess the level of knowledge, awareness and utilization of AB - PMJAY and MJPJAY. Data collection tool: Predesigned, validated, and standardized questionnaire. Sample size: 383. Rural area of Rahata Taluka, Maharashtra. Families who are beneficiaries or have not availed of the scheme to date. Cross-sectional descriptive. Multi-stage sampling - Cluster Sampling technique for villages and sample selection using simple random sampling technique. Out of the 383, among the cardholders, 6.27% and 14.36% of households had availed of the AB-PMJAY and MJPJAY schemes in the last 1 year. For AB-PMJAY: 0.5% and MJPJAY: 0% cardholders had to pay an additional amount for registration. Out-of-pocket expenditure reduction on healthcare is sardonic due to a lack of awareness about the facilities that can be prevailed in the government and empanelled private hospitals under the schemes. Promotion regarding self and facility registration on the scheme’s portal through Community health workers and the government’s digital platforms is needed to increase knowledge, awareness and utilization. Many people denied participating in the study as we were not generating the Ayushman Bharat and MJPJAY cards on the spot. We faced difficulty getting written consent from the participants as we were not the representatives of their society.

Keywords

Ayushman Bharat Yojana, Knowledge, Utilization, Health assurance scheme, Out of pocket expenditure

Conclusion

Out-of-pocket expenditure reduction on healthcare is not up to the mark due to a lack of awareness about the facilities that can be prevailed in the government and empanelled in private hospitals under the schemes. Knowledge about various characteristics of both the schemes is very less among the population due to less reach of the IEC materials in the villages and on the digital platforms of the state and central governments regarding the information about the schemes. Promotion regarding self and facility registration on the scheme’s portal through Community health workers and the government’s digital platforms is needed to increase knowledge, awareness and utilization.

References

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How to cite this article

Manmohan Sharma, Swanand D. Tilekar and Manasi V. Shelgaonkar (2023). To Assess the Knowledge, Awareness and Utilization of People Regarding PMJAY – Ayushman Bharat Yojana and Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana in Rural Areas of Rahata Taluka, Maharashtra. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(5): 62-68.