Jaipur: Rajasthan health department has confirmed expansion of Mukhyamantri Ayushman Arogya (MAA) Yojana, activating outbound portability to give beneficiaries access to 30,000 hospitals across India.Patients can now seek treatment at 16,000 govt and 14,000 private facilities outside Rajasthan. The network includes hospitals in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Delhi, and covers premier institutions such as AIIMS (Delhi and Bhopal), PGI Chandigarh, Medanta, KGMU Lucknow, and specialist centres in Gujarat including UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Gujarat Cancer and Research Centre.Health minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar said the MAA Yojana is ensuring health security for lakhs of families in the state. He said the scheme, operated on a large scale by integrating the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), became a guarantee of free and cashless treatment not only within the state but also beyond the state’s borders.State govt implemented inter-state portability in the scheme about six months ago. In the first phase, inbound portability was implemented, under which citizens of other states received treatment facilities in Rajasthan. “From Dec 19, outbound portability started in this scheme. This will enable citizens of the state to get free treatment facilities in other states of the country,” Khimsar said.Principal secretary (health) Gayatri Rathore said many patients travelled to states such as Gujarat and Delhi for treatment of serious diseases and “bore heavy expenses from their own pockets.” “State govt took a historic public welfare decision by implementing outbound portability,” she said.Rathore said eligible families of Rajasthan will now be able to get cashless treatment up to Rs 25 lakh in empanelled hospitals outside the state. She said the benefit will be available not only to eligible families under PMJAY, but also to all eligible families under the MAA Yojana.
