Bhubaneswar: Health Minister Mukesh Mahaling announced that a new integrated health card combining the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) and the state’s Gopabandhu Jan Arogya Yojana (G-JAY) will be launched in February. The integrated card will provide health insurance coverage of Rs 10 lakh for women and Rs 5 lakh for men.
The G-JAY scheme (formerly known as the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana) currently offers Rs 10 lakh health insurance for women and Rs 5 lakh for men. Meanwhile, AB-PMJAY offers a health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family annually for treatment at both public and private empanelled hospitals nationwide.
Minister Mahaling clarified that the state’s G-JAY coverage will continue under the new integrated health card, with Rs 10 lakh for women and Rs 5 lakh for men.
The minister highlighted that 2025 will be a significant year for the health department as it prepares for the launch of the new integrated health card next month. He mentioned that a central team has already visited the state to review preparations for the integration of both schemes.
IT Integration Challenges:
The health minister acknowledged the challenges of IT integration, as existing infrastructure is insufficient to handle the 30,000 hospitals across India that will be empanelled under the new scheme. To ensure smooth operation, better integration with the central system is essential.
Chief Minister Mohan Majhi is closely monitoring the integration process. The state plans to leverage the existing e-KYC database from the food supplies and consumer welfare department, which holds data on 1 crore people. This data will help facilitate the integration of the new health card.
Mahaling also addressed the technical challenges of integrating 956 existing empanelled hospitals under G-JAY into a much larger network of 30,000 empanelled hospitals, assuring that the department is actively working to overcome these issues and ensure smooth implementation of the scheme.
