NHA signs MoU with ITC e-Choupal to help farmers avail Ayushman Bharat scheme

New Delhi: The National Health Authority, the apex body implementing the Centre’s flagship Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme, has signed an MoU with ITC e-Choupal to help farmers avail benefits under the programme.

As part of the MoU signed on Tuesday, ITC will conduct awareness camps through 400 Village Health Champions (VHCs) covering over 800 villages across 10 districts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh on a pilot basis.

These VHCs will make women and adolescents aware of the programme through group meetings and door-to-door campaigns.

ITC e-Choupal is a network of 4 million farmers in over 35,000 villages across 10 states — Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Through this collaboration, the NHA and ITC e-Choupal will spread awareness about the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya scheme and conduct outreach and training activities.

The MoU was signed by Dr Praveen Gedam, the deputy CEO of NHA, and Anil K Rajput, the senior vice president of corporate affairs at the ITC.

The two organisations have come together to ensure eligible farmers have a better understanding of the scheme and seek hospital treatment for serious illnesses through it, according to a statement issued by the NHA.

Through this partnership, millions of farmers would be able to access the information via 6,000 e-choupals.

“This partnership will empower millions of citizens in the rural India with digital interventions. The collaboration focuses on providing secondary and tertiary treatment for a range of serious illnesses such as cancer, heart ailments, etc to farmers and their families in rural areas,” Dr Indu Bhushan, CEO of NHA, said.

The Ayushman BharatPradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana provides a cover of up to Rs 5 lakhs per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to over 10.74 crore vulnerable entitled families.