Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana: A Paper Tiger

The current budgetary allocation of ？20 billion under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) is grossly inadequate. Our paper estimates that in the current fiscal year, the scheme will require an allocation of at least ？420.73 billion to be able to give any meaningful coverage to 0.1 billion targetted families. This paper argues that such an expensive tertiary sector- led medical care coverage model is not the correct approach to ensure Universal Health Care (UHC) in India. A majority of illnesses are treatable at the primary level and an unbalanced promotion of the tertiary sector while neglecting primary healthcare will cause a delay in treatments, resulting in more complex and expensive medical interventions. What India urgently needs is to develop a comprehensive primary healthcare system