Just three states—all in the northeast—saw more women than men benefiting from health packages not specifically meant for them under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), a study has shown.
The review, commissioned by the National Health Authority (NHA), the body that implements the programme under which over 10 crore poorest families are offered cashless hospitalisation benefits of up to Rs 5 lakh, studied the utilisation trend between October 2019 and September 2021.
Overall, of the total number of beneficiaries who benefited from AB-PMJAY—if the packages under obstetrics and gynaecology are removed—42.2 per cent were women.
When packages under obstetrics and gynaecology are included, female utilisation of AB-PMJAY services stood at 46.7 per cent of the total, showed the study, and in states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Sikkim observed higher utilisation by women.
Currently, women comprise up to 49.6 per cent of the total enrolled AB-PMJAY beneficiaries and the NHA said that 10 states—Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Kerala and Meghalaya—have a higher number of Ayushman Cards issued to women than to men.
AB-PMJAY currently provides women as many as 59 packages and 77 procedures under obstetrics and gynaecology and the NHA said that this increased access to better healthcare services helps reduce maternally and child mortality.
The study found that obstetrics and gynaecology comprise the second most accessed service after general medicine in over 15 states.
“The high representation of female beneficiaries in the scheme is a testament to our commitment for this endeavour,” said NHA chief executive R S Sharma. “I hope we can continue this tradition and keep this inclusiveness alive.”
The findings also showed that the gender-wise utilisation of COVID-19 packages had a skew both for hospital admissions and claims paid, with females accounting for only 40 per cent of that availing of the scheme.
The gap in the percentage of female utilisation with and without obstetrics and gynaecology was found to be highest in Chhattisgarh, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab (more than 8 per cent), which showed that obstetrics and gynaecology services made up a high proportion of women accessing the scheme in these states.
The Union territories and states of Chandigarh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, on the other hand, were found to have the lowest gap (less than 1 per cent).
The state-wise analysis of the COVID-19 packages revealed higher female utilisation in Meghalaya, Sikkim and Tamil Nadu, with the national average being 40.4 per cent.
However, the majority of the states reported fewer women availing of the packages with Mizoram (25 per cent) and Jharkhand (29 per cent) recording the lowest.
The analysis has been divided into two timeframes— for trend analysis of utilisation and top specialities, data was used for two years, from October 2019 to September 2021, divided into six-month slabs and for detailed gender-wise analysis of AB-PMJAY, data was used for the period from October 2020 to March 2021.
The rationale behind selecting the time frame for detailed analysis was the diminishing effect of the pandemic on the utilisation and the increase in admissions after the first wave.
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