A daily wages labourer from Mehsana, who was suffering from kidney stone, has become first beneficiary of the Ayushman Bharat scheme in Gujarat. Rolled out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 23, the Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, aims to provide health cover of Rs5 lakh per family for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation. It is aimed at covering about 10 crore households, or roughly 50 crore people. The state government said that Kalabhai Haribhai, a daily wager from Ranshipur village of Mehsana district, became the first beneficiary of the scheme in the state, and underwent surgery for removal of kidney stone at the civil hospital in Ahmedabad. Kalabhai, 43, who earns about Rs200 per day, was working in a farm recently, when he started experiencing extreme stomach ache. He was rushed to a government hospital in an ambulance, from where he was shifted to Gandhinagar civil hospital, and later to Ahmedabad civil hospital, where he was operated upon. "The surgery would have cost Rs1 lakh in a private hospital, but I was able to avail free treatment under the scheme," the state's first beneficiary of the scheme said. Incidentally, Kalabhai was not aware of Ayushman Bharat scheme, but hospital authorities helped him register for it, the release added.

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