Dimapur: More than 1.14 lakh Ayushman beneficiary cards in Nagaland have not yet been linked to Aadhaar, the Nagaland Health Protection Society (NHPS), under the state health and family welfare department, said on Thursday.The NHPS said an analysis of beneficiary records in the beneficiary identification system has revealed the data.In an office memorandum, the NHPS said Aadhaar linkage is mandatory for availing benefits under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) at empanelled hospitals.It set Nov 30 as the deadline for completing the linkage.The NHPS said during the initial implementation of AB PM-JAY, from 2018 to Sept 2022, Ayushman cards could be generated without Aadhaar linkage for beneficiaries covered under the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) and Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) data sources.However, Aadhaar linkage was later made mandatory in view of the beneficiary-mapping exercise being carried out through the National Health Authority’s IT platform.The NHPS said according to the prevailing policy of the scheme, beneficiaries are required to have their Aadhaar linked with their Ayushman cards to avail benefits at hospitals under AB PM-JAY.It asked all Ayushman card holders whose cards were generated between 2018 and Sept 2022 to verify the Aadhaar linkage status of their cards.Those whose cards are not linked to Aadhaar have been advised to complete the process through the Beneficiary Identification System (BIS) portal.The linkage can also be completed through the offices of the respective chief medical officers, common service centres, village-level entrepreneurs, card vendor agencies or any empanelled PM-JAY hospital.
