Supreme Court on Free Testing of Covid-19 | 14 Apr 2020

Why in News

Key Points

  • Private labs would continue to charge the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) rates of up to ₹4,500 for tests from people who can afford to pay.
  • Free testing for Covid-19 shall continue to be made available to the poor eligible under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.
  • Free testing would also be made available to any other category of economically weaker sections of society as notified by the government from time to time.
  • The Supreme Court directed the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare to identify beneficiaries among the weaker sections of society.
    • This includes workers belonging to low income groups in the informal sectors and beneficiaries of Direct Benefit Transfer who can be made eligible for free testing.
  • It also directed the Ministry to issue appropriate guidelines in this regard within a week.

Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya

  • PM-JAY offers a sum insured of Rs.5 lakh per family for secondary care (which doesn’t involve a super specialist) as well as tertiary care (which involves a super specialist).
  • It is an entitlement-based scheme that targets the beneficiaries as identified by latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data.
    • Once identified by the database, the beneficiary is considered insured and can walk into any empanelled hospital.
  • The insurance cost is shared by the centre and the state mostly in the ratio of 60:40.
  • Packaged rates (Rates that include everything so that each product or service is not charged for separately):
    • They also mention the number of average days of hospitalization for a medical procedure and supporting documents that are needed.
    • They are flexible, but they can’t charge the beneficiary once fixed by the hospitals.
    • The scheme also has prescribed a daily limit for medical management.
  • The National Health Agency has been constituted as an autonomous entity under the Society Registration Act, 1860 for effective implementation of PM-JAY in alliance with state governments.
  • The State Health Agency (SHA) is the apex body of the State Government responsible for the implementation of AB PM-JAY in the State.

Source : TH