Dehradun, Feb 25 (IANS) The benefits of Ayushman Vay Vandana Yojana, launched under Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) in 2024, are reaching the length and breadth of the country, including the distant and remote locations.
The Ayushman Bharat-Vay Vandana Yojana has proved to be a lifeline for the people of Chamoli district in Uttarakhand.
Chamoli, a border district, has made remarkable progress in bringing the senior citizens on board, making them eligible to become beneficiaries under the scheme.
The Ayushman Vay Vandana cards have been issued to more than 500 eligible beneficiaries, enabling them to avail of free healthcare services.
Till date, healthcare has always been a major challenge for people living in remote locations and difficult mountainous terrains. However, with the issuance of Vay Vandana Yojana, this has significantly mitigated their hardships and eased the convenience of getting medical attention.
Through the Vay Vandana Yojana cards, the elderly beneficiaries are receiving treatment at listed hospitals without any financial burden. Earlier, it was difficult to travel for treatment, but now, with the Ayushman card, they are receiving free treatment.
Many beneficiaries who have received free treatment under the scheme expressed gratitude to the Modi government for the welfare scheme.
A beneficiary, Balwant Ram, said that he and his family are highly grateful to PM Modi for the scheme, while another beneficiary, Awal Singh Rawat, compared today’s ease of treatment to travails earlier.
To further expand the scheme’s penetration, the health department teams are going from village to village to register eligible beneficiaries, so that more people can join the scheme.
Notably, it was in October 2024 that the Centre expanded AB-PMJAY to provide free treatment benefits of up to Rs 5 lakh per year to all senior citizens aged 70 years and above, irrespective of their socio-economic status, including tribal communities
Till last year, as of December 5, more than 93 lakh Ayushman Vay Vandana cards were issued across all States and UTs.
A total of 7.89 lakh hospital admissions were recorded till October 2025, amounting to Rs 1741 crore, which were authorised under the Ayushman Vay Vandana category across the implementing States/ UTs. Further, expansion in treatment is done by inclusion of new procedures, empanelment of new hospitals, inclusion of new beneficiaries and other improvements as per requirements from time to time.
--IANS
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