Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Sunday said Ayushman Bharat- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana that was launched on Sunday, would benefit 22 lakh people in Himachal Pradesh.

He was speaking at the launch of Ayushman Bharat scheme which was jointly by him and Governor Acharya Devvrat here on Sunday.

Thakur said the healthcare scheme would ensure that none in the state and the country were deprived of medical treatment due to want of money.

This was the biggest health scheme of the world which would cover over 10 crore families of the country, he said, adding the beneficiaries would get an insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh for treatment.

As many as 175 hospitals have been registered for treatment under this scheme in the state.

The credit of this goes to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has conceived and implemented such an ambitious scheme that would revolutionise the health sector in the state.

He said that the government should publicised it in such a way that every citizen of the country could be benefitted from this scheme.

This ambitious scheme would not only ensure free treatment to the people in government as well as private hospitals but also ensure that they get proper treatment without worrying for the expensive treatments.

The Chief Minister said for success of this scheme it was essential that more and more people could be educated and sensitised about it so that they could benefit from this scheme.

Apart from 1800 different diseases, day care surgery has also been covered under the scheme.

Himachal was way ahead in several health indicators in the country and about five lakh families have been covered under the National Health Insurance Scheme in the state.

“In addition, the government was also implementing Mukhiya Mantri State Health Care Scheme, under which over 1.05 lakh families have been covered. In this way almost whole population of the state has been covered under one health insurance scheme or the other,” he added.

Thakur said the government was endeavouring to provide quality and specialised healthcare facilities to the people of the state. For this, the existing health institutions were being strengthened by equipping them with men and machinery, he added.