Ayushman Bharat and Uber ink partnership to facilitate free healthcare for drivers

A ride-sharing company has partnered with the government's flagship healthcare insurance scheme, Ayushman Bharat, to facilitate free healthcare for several drivers associated with the firm.

The National Health Authority (NHA), the apex body implementing the Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) has inked an MoU with Uber.

According to the agreement, Uber, under its Uber CARE initiative for driver and delivery partners, will facilitate the setting up of common service centres (CSC's) at Partners Seva Kendras across India.

The CSC's village level entrepreneurs at these centers will help verify eligibility and issue e-cards to drivers for the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, which provides healthcare benefits worth Rs five lakh to each eligible family per year in government and empanelled private hospitals.

CEO of NHA, Dr Indu Bhushan said, Reaching out to the last mile beneficiary lies at the core of the goal of Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY of providing cashless quality inpatient care for serious illnesses with a view to protect more than 10 crore economically vulnerable families or 50 crore people from catastrophic healthcare expenditure that impoverishes more than 6 crore people every year.

"Through this partnership with Uber, we hope to reach out to lakhs of people and their families in the driver and delivery community to bring them benefits of this transformative scheme and help secure their health and economic security."

Drivers and delivery partners will pay only Rs 30 to obtain an Ayushman Bharat card to provide access to the services under the scheme. They will not be required to pay any charges or premium for pre-hospitalisation, hospitalisation and post-hospitalisation expenses, which are all covered under the scheme.

Each empanelled hospital is staffed by 'Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Mitras' or frontline healthcare workers to assist patients and facilitate their care at the hospital. They will also run a help desk and check documents to verify eligibility for the scheme.

Pradeep Parameswaran, President, Uber, India and South Asia said, "Driver partners are at the heart of what we do and during our engagements with them, they have repeatedly mentioned the need for a stronger safety net, especially good healthcare."

"Our partnership with Ayushman Bharat, the largest government healthcare scheme in the world, caters to such a requirement. It underscores our commitment not just to driver and delivery partners, but also our resolve to facilitate healthcare benefits for their family members," he said.

-PTI