Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed the health department to bring Arogyasri public health care scheme benefits under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). The move will allow the billed amount to be disbursed directly to the patient and to the hospital on auto-debit mode with their consent.

Chairing a health department review meeting on Monday, the Chief Minister said that DBT would improve accountability and further streamline the system leaving no loopholes.

He also instructed the officials to bring in parity while giving the subsidy amount for postpartum women: “Rs 5,000 per mother for both natural and c-section delivery in the state,” said the Chief Minister.

Health department officials said that the state’s ‘Arogyasri’ scheme covers 32 specialty treatments which is more than the Central government’s health insurance ‘Ayushman Bharat’ that covers 25 specialty procedures. The Chief Minister mooted increasing the procedures covered under Arogyasri, including the specialty treatments.

Apart from the Central government funded 104 and 108 services, the state government has been spending around Rs 3600 crore per year to improve the health sector, which includes Arogyasri, Arogya Asara, and EHS.

Health department officials informed the Chief Minister that five prioritised teaching medical colleges-cum-hospitals: Vizianagaram, Rajahmundry, Eluru, Machilipatnam, and Nandyal would open for admissions from the 2023 academic year subject to regulatory applications obtaining the necessary clearances.