Under PMJAY, Rs 6.9 crore paid for treatment of ‘dead’ patients: CAG

Flagging irregularities in the audit of the Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) health insurance scheme, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has said that Rs 6.97 crore was paid for the treatment of 3,446 patients who had previously been declared dead in the database.

The scheme, launched in 2018, has been rolled out in both rural and urban areas with the aim of reducing out-of-pocket expenditure for the poor and vulnerable population seeking healthcare.

In the performance audit, under the head “Treatment of a beneficiary shown as ‘died’ during earlier claim/treatment”, the CAG noted that “patients earlier shown as ‘died’ in TMS (the Transaction Management System of the scheme) continued to avail treatment under the scheme”.