The Ayushman Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) Healthcare Scheme is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and National Health Authority (NHA).
The objective of the Scheme
The objective of the scheme is to provide cashless health services to CAPF personnel and their dependents at 24,000 impaneled hospitals across the country using the Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY IT platform. The scheme will ensure Healthcare facilities of CAPF personnel help them discharge their duties properly.
CAPF refers to the body of 7 security forces in India under the Ministry of Home Affairs whose role is to defend the national interest, mainly against internal threats. Their roles are guarding the border, security of sensitive establishments, assisting police in law and order situations, assisting the army in counter-terrorist operations, and in the past have even assisted the army against external aggressions. They work along with the army and police in different roles assigned to them.
Salient Features
The scheme switches the process of availing health care benefits from a paper-based, manual, lengthy to a paperless service at the IT platform of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The scheme will make it easier for the personnel of various forces, especially those living in remote areas, to get quality medical treatment and make healthcare more accessible for the armed police forces and their dependents.
The scheme has portability which ensures access to health care services across the country, is paperless to ensure ease and convenience, and has a dedicated call center for grievance redressal.
All Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF ) officials and serving personnel and their dependents from 7 forces – Assam Rifles, Border Security Force (BSF), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF ), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), National Security Guard (NSG), and Indo- Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) will be covered under the scheme.
A 24×7 call center, system for online grievance management, real-time monitoring dashboards, and astringent fraud and abuse control system are introduced.
The National Health Authority has created a dedicated toll-free helpline 14588, an online grievance management system, and stringent fraud and abuse detection prevention and control system for seamless services to CAPF beneficiaries.
How can beneficiaries operate?
Beneficiaries can collect their Ayushman CAPF eCards from their respective forces or Pradhan Mantri Arogya Mitra (PMAM) stations at PM-JAY impaneled private hospitals. These cards can then be activated at impaneled private hospitals using a copy of their service ID and Aadhar or any government-approved photo ID. Beneficiaries can avail of free medical treatment at CAPF, Government-owned facilities, and private hospitals according to the guidelines of the scheme.
Beneficiaries will get reimbursement for self-paid medical treatment if the services are availed at CAPF or government-owned facilities or, in case of emergencies, even at non- impaneled hospitals.
A brief on the Scheme
The scheme was launched in January 2021 but applied initially only to Assam. Now, it is being launched throughout the country in a phased manner. Health cards will be distributed to more than 35 lakh beneficiaries across various forces, including serving force personnel and their family members. The maximum number of beneficiaries is in CRPF (11.8 lakh), followed by BSF (10.4 lakh) and CISF (4.6 lakh).