on Thursday, The Centre stated, that the Aadhaar was not compulsory or obligatory for availing health insurance under the Ayushman Bharat scheme.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare clarified that Aadhaar was not mandatory and refuted the media reports which said so and also he said that this is “desirable”, not mandatory, to have the benefits of the scheme.
The National Health Agency, also known as the NHA is actually coming under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare stated that, while, the Aadhaar is preferred over other identity proof of the beneficiary, which is not compulsory for a candidate oo person to furnish one in order to avail the benefits under the Ayushman Bharat scheme.
The government told, ”The use of Aadhaar card for the purpose is preferable but not a must.”
The clarification came to post some of the media section has been reported that the Centre had published a gazette notification which is considered the Aadhaar as the mandatory for beneficiaries under its health insurance scheme.
“Notification of the Ayushman Bharat – National Health Protection Mission being issued by the Health Ministry under Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act, merely enables the implementation agencies to ask for the beneficiary Aadhaar Card to authenticate their identity.
“In order to authenticate the identity of beneficiaries accurately, the use of Aadhaar card is preferable, but it is not a must. There shall be no denial of benefit for want of Aadhaar number,” the Ministry said in its clarification.
Referring to the statement given by the Centre, JP Nadda , the Union Health Minister, said the government will provide services to “all eligible beneficiaries with or without Aadhaar cards”. The mention of Aadhaar being a necessary identity proof which is also part of the draft notification that also asks for identification mechanisms, which includes, the ration card and voter ID card for those without an Aadhaar number.
In addition, it also makes the implementation agencies accountable which is for set up the Aadhaar enrolment centers for the beneficiaries who are not yet enrolled for Aadhaar, at convenient locations. “AB-NHPM guidelines on beneficiary identification very clearly state that beneficiaries can bring Aadhaar or any other valid government ID(s) decided by the State if they do not have an Aadhaar,” the Ministry added further.
