New Delhi, June 7 Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday wrote to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, saying that the Delhi government's health scheme is “ten times bigger and comprehensive” than the Centre's flagship Ayushman Bharat programme. Kejriwal said if the AAP government's health scheme was closed and the Ayushman Bharat was implemented in Delhi, it would be a loss for the citizens of the Capital. The AAP chief's comments come a week after Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had said the AAP dispensation would not implement Ayushman Bharat scheme in the city as it sought to provide equitable treatment to all residents here. Jain had also said if the Centre's Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) was so good, why were people from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh "forced" to seek treatment in government hospitals in Delhi. His comments came days after Harsh Vardhan wrote to the Chief Ministers of Delhi, Odisha, Telangana and West Bengal, urging them to join the Centre's flagship health insurance scheme. The AB-PMJAY scheme aims to provide a coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family annually, benefitting more than 10.74 crore poor families for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation through a network of empanelled healthcare providers. Kejriwal Friday said: “The Delhi government's health scheme is 10 times bigger and comprehensive than Ayushman Bharat.” In his two-page letter in Hindi to Harsh Vardhan, Kejriwal said despite Ayushman Bharat being in place in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, lakhs of patients from these two states came to Delhi every day to get medical treatment. “Hardly any citizen of Delhi goes to Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to get treatment, which indicates that Delhi's health scheme is functioning well,” Kejriwal said. In the letter, the Chief Minister also drew a comparison between his government's scheme and Ayushman Bharat scheme. Under the Ayushman Bharat, less than 10 per cent of the people are beneficiaries in Delhi while under the AAP government's scheme, every citizen is a beneficiary which means Delhi's two crore population is covered. "Those whose income is more than Rs 10,000 do not come under Ayushman Bharat, which means those earning less than minimum wages (notified by the Delhi government) is out of this scheme," Kejriwal said. — PTI Writes to Health Minister In his two-page letter in Hindi to Harsh Vardhan, Kejriwal said despite Ayushman Bharat being in place in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, lakhs of patients from these two states came to Delhi every day to get medical treatment. The Delhi government's health scheme is 10 times bigger and comprehensive than Ayushman Bharat, he said.

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