Pradhan Mantri Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana (PMASBY)

The PMASBY or Pradhan Mantri Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana scheme is the biggest self-reliant scheme by the government of India to fortify the healthcare infrastructure of the country. This Swasth Bharat scheme is also called Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission and was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25th October 2021 in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The prime objective of this prime minister’s health insurance scheme is to reinforce the healthcare system of the country along with the National Health Mission.

What is PM Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana?

This Atmanirbhar Swastha Bharat Yojana is a new government health infrastructure scheme to offer better and easily accessible healthcare facilities to the citizens of India. The scheme was announced by the central government of India on 1st February 2021 in the parliament budget session of 2021-22. In September 2021, the Union cabinet approved the scheme with a budget of Rs. 64,180 Cr for the next six years. The core objective of this Swasth Bharat Yojana is to create a disease surveillance system enabled by IT to monitor the thriving network of surveillance laboratories at district, regional, national, and block levels. This scheme is beneficial for all people in the country.

Top 10 Key features of Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission

Let’s take a look at some of the salient features of this scheme.

1. Atmanirbahr Swasth Bharat Yojana was publicized by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget 2021.
2. This scheme includes a provision of Rs. 2.23 Lakh health services
3. This scheme encourages establishing investigation centers in all the districts
4. Under the PMASBY scheme, a budget of Rs. 64,180 Cr is sanctioned that will be utilized in the coming 6 years
5.  This scheme mentions the establishment of critical care hospital blocks in 12 central institutions and 602 districts.
6. 11,000 urban health and wellness centers along with 17,000 rural health centers will be supported by this scheme
7. This scheme proposes the setting up of 15 health emergency operation centers alongside 2 mobile hospitals.
8. This scheme mentions in opening 3383 public health units in 11 states
9. Establishment of investigation centers in all districts
10. The scheme will supervise the strengthening of 20 metropolitan health surveillance units, the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) and its 5 regional branches

What are the objectives of this Pradhan Mantri Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana

• The primary purpose of the scheme is to fill up the existing gap in primary and critical health care facilities, in both rural and urban areas.
• The scheme aims to fortify the existing 33 public healthcare units and also plans to introduce 17 new public health units at every entry point. Now, the government can prevent, detect, and diagnose various diseases and national health emergencies
• The scheme is planning to escalate and improve the capacity of primary health care systems that are established within the geographical boundaries of the country.
• With this scheme, the government wants to provide better healthcare facilities across the nation
• The scheme is planning to utilize the existing infrastructure of district hospitals by adding fuel to the present national institutions
• The scheme is also focusing on correcting the unequal distribution of medical colleges and will offer more healthcare experts in India in future
• To guide all citizens towards the progressive path in the field of wellness and health
• Fortifying the primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare systems

How will this scheme benefit people?

• This scheme will offer support and assistance to 17,788 existing rural health and wellness centers across 10 high-focused states
• The scheme is planning to set up approximately 11, 024 wellness centers in urban areas in different states of the country
• The scheme will offer critical care services through critical care hospital blocks in different districts with more than 5 lakh population
• For districts with less than 5 lakh population, critical care services will be offered on a referral basis
• A complete range of diagnostic services will be provided to people through various network laboratories in India
• The scheme approves nearly 157 new medical colleges under its three phases. Among these, 63 medical colleges have already started their operations
• An integrated healthcare information portal will connect all health laboratories to all states and union territories under this scheme
• The scheme will train all frontline workers so that they can respond well to any national emergencies
• The scheme will help in ruling out the COVID-19 vaccination program and will also strengthen the capacity so that the country can easily combat any future pandemics

How will this scheme expand the healthcare infrastructure in the country?

The government will set up the below-mentioned things under this scheme.

• 1 national institution for one health
• 4 national institutes for Virology
• 9 Biosafety level 3 laboratories
• 1 regional research platform for the Southeast Region of WHO
• 5 Regional national centers for disease control

The Conclusion

This self-sustainable scheme will certainly uplift the healthcare infrastructure of the country. Both rural and urban people will get better accessibility to the healthcare system under this scheme. The scheme will establish more medical colleges for aspiring medical students. The scheme will also train frontline workers so that they should be well-equipped in the future to deal with any emergencies.