New Delhi, July 25 : The Union government on Friday informed the Parliament about the increase in adoption of Ayushman Card, Ayushman Vay Vandana card, as well as the Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts (ABHA), indicating a significant boost in public health in the country.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Prataprao Jadhav shared details of transformative policies and initiatives under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) to enhance healthcare access and equity for citizens in the county.

'Under AB-PMJAY, over 41 crore Ayushman cards have been created, out of which 20.47 crore cards have been created for female beneficiaries,' the MoS said.

'Under the Vay Vandana scheme, a total of 75.41 lakh Ayushman Vay Vandana cards have been created, out of which 32.3 lakh cards have been created for female beneficiaries,' he added.

The Ayushman Vay Vandana Scheme provides free healthcare benefits of up to Rs 5 lakh annually to all Indian citizens aged 70 and above, regardless of income or social category.

Further, the AB-PMJAY scheme was also expanded to include 37 lakh Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), Anganwadi Workers (AWWs), Anganwadi Helpers (AWHs), and their families.

'About 10.45 lakhs Ayushman Cards have been created for ASHAs, 15.01 lakhs for AWWs, and 15.05 lakhs for AWHs,' Jadhav said.

The Minister also noted the advancements made in India's digital health infrastructure through the Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) initiative.

'Over 79.55 crore ABHA have been created and over 64.28 crore health records have been linked with ABHA till July,' Jadhav said.

ABHA, created under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), empowers citizens to access and manage their digital health records with consent across the healthcare ecosystem.

The ABDM registries provide access to health records and gateways to easily access individual health records and to share them securely and seamlessly via 'Scan and Share' -- a QR-code-based OPD (Outpatient Department) registration service. This minimises long queues at the registration counter as well as the entry of incomplete or inaccurate data.

'Till July, a total of 22,404 health facilities across 36 States/UTs have generated 12.48 crore OPD registrations, with an average of about 3 lakh registrations being enabled by this service,' the Minister said.

/IANS