New Delhi, Jan 29 : More than 85.97 million people have so far benefited from free treatments worth Rs 1.2 lakh crore under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), according to the latest government data on Wednesday.

Launched in 2018, PMJAY provides financial protection to deprived rural families. It also identifies occupational categories of urban workers' families. It is the world's largest health assurance scheme, extending comprehensive secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation benefits of up to Rs 5 lakh per family annually.

As per the PMJAY dashboard, as of January 29, Tamil Nadu tops the list of beneficiaries under the scheme with a whopping 90,49,496 people availing of the benefits. The state was followed by Karnataka (66,04,849), Rajasthan (57,41,363), Kerala (54,64,674), Andhra Pradesh (49,67,217) and Gujarat (45,46,832). Lakshadweep showed the least number of beneficiaries (780).

Importantly, PM-JAY has no cap on family size or age. It also ensures that pre-existing diseases are covered from day one, allowing patients to receive treatment immediately upon enrolment.

The services include a range of procedures covering all the costs related to treatment, including drugs, supplies, diagnostic services, physician's fees, room charges, surgeon charges, OT and ICU charges, etc.

It also covers a broad range of services that include medical examinations, treatment, and consultations; pre-hospitalisation expenses, medicine, and medical consumables; non-intensive and intensive care services; diagnostic and laboratory investigations; medical implantation services; accommodation and food services; treatment complications and post-hospitalisation follow-up care up to 15 days.

Further, the dashboard also showed over 365.4 million Ayushman Cards have been issued to beneficiaries so far. As many as 31,077 public and private hospitals are empanelled under PM-JAY. Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of Ayushman Cards (5,19,78,317), while Lakshadweep had the lowest (35,343).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 29, rolled out the Ayushman Vay Vandana scheme -- an extension of the flagship Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY).

The new scheme aims to provide senior citizens with free healthcare benefits, in addition to the existing AB PM-JAY family scheme. Under the new scheme, the elderly will have a separate cover of Rs 5 lakh per year.

/IANS