Utilization and impact of Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) among Rural Population of Ayodhya: A Community Based Study

Background:Universal health coverage targets that all individuals and communities receive the health services they need without suffering financial hardship. The PMJAY- Ayushman Bharat was launched on 23rd September 2018, to achieve the vision of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) to meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its underlining commitment, which is to "leave no one behind." This study was done to know about the impact and utilization of this scheme at the level of rural community. Material & Methods:Cross sectional study was done in rural area of Ayodhya.Computer generated random numbers were used to select households among people enlisted under Ayushman Bharat beneficiary list, 375 respondents were selected. A pretested semi structured questionnaire was used. Data was entered in Microsoft Excel sheet and analyzed using SPSS software version 20. Results: A total of 183 (48.8%) families had received the golden card and 74 (40.44%) families with golden card have utilized the card. Most common claims were in the range of Rs 10000-50000. Most common reason which emerged as barrier of card utilization was discrepancy in name on Aadhar & Golden card. Catastrophic health expenditure was incurred upon a total of 11(2.9%) families who had to self-pay for the health expenditure. Conclusion: AB PMJAY has targeted to address financial health security in a very elaborative manner but still the barriers exist due to which the utilization is less. Our study can provide a scoping base to make it more user friendly and useful by addressing the barriers of utilization and enhancing the spectrum of packages such as outpatient care expenditures so as to achieve the goal .