New Delhi, Nov 29 (IANS) About 14 lakh Ayushman Vay Vandana cards have been created for senior citizens aged 70 years and above since the launch of the scheme, a month ago, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Prataprao Jadhav said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

On October 29, the Union government expanded the Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) to provide free treatment benefits of up to 5 lakh per year on a family basis to all senior citizens aged 70 years and above. Senior citizens would get health coverage irrespective of their socio-economic status.

The scheme is set to benefit about 4.5 crore families and 6 crore individuals aged 70 years and above across the country.

“As on November 25, approximately 14 lakh Ayushman Vay Vandana cards have been created, for senior citizens aged 70 years and above beneficiaries under the scheme,” Jadhav said.

The estimated expenditure for the scheme is Rs 3,437 crore. Of this, Rs 2,165 crore in the central share expenditure is likely to be incurred during the Financial Year 2024-25 and 2025-26, the Ministry said.

A total of 29,870 hospitals are empanelled under the scheme out of which 13,173 are private hospitals.

The flagship scheme provides cashless healthcare services related to 1,961 procedures across 27 medical specialties including general medicine, and general surgery. People across ages with problems related to bones, heart, and cancer can also avail the benefits.

Treatment services like hemodialysis / peritoneal dialysis, acute ischemic stroke, accelerated hypertension, total hip replacement, total knee replacement, PTCA, inclusive of diagnostic angiogram, single chamber permanent pacemaker implantation, double chamber permanent pacemaker implantation, etc. are also available to eligible senior citizens, as per the ministry.

Further, States have been provided flexibility to further customise the health benefit packages to the local context.