Ayushman Bharat will prove jumla, says Arvind Kejriwal

Arvind Kejriwal

Calling it a personal relations exercise, Aam Aadmi Party head Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said the Centre's Ayushman Bharat scheme will prove to be another 'jumla'. Kejriwal tweeted: "Please read why Ayushman Bharat is another PR exercise and will prove another jumla".

Along with the tweet, he shared a party statement which compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Ayushman Bharat Scheme with Delhi Model of Universal Healthcare. "The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has termed the much-hyped Ayushman Bharat Scheme of the Modi government as another white elephant in the making. PM Modi launched the scheme in Jharkhand on Sunday," reads the statement.

It added that the party is of the view that a universal healthcare scheme is a must for the country; however, "Ayushman Bharat Scheme is not at all a universal scheme and is designed in manner which is bound to fail."

The AAP also claimed that Ayushman Bharat skips primary healthcare. "The Ayushman Bharat Scheme, designed by the Modi government caters only to secondary and tertiary requirements. It gives a miss to the most important, the primary healthcare.

"The Modi Government plans to climb the ladder of healthcare without laying a foundation; which is one of the reasons why the AAP terms the scheme as flawed. Without a strong foundation, it is destined to fall," it added. The party statement also claimed that the Delhi government has shown through its three-tier healthcare scheme as to how universal healthcare should be designed.

Also read: Arvind Kejriwal: Students shifting from private to government schools

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Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from IANS