Page 11 - Insurance Times April 2019

Health Insurance

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IRDAI, NHA form working Ayushman Bharat to identify urban beneficiaries
group to curb fraud in through companies
To implement Ayushman Bharat in urban areas, it has been a challenge for the
Ayushman Bharat scheme govt to identify urban people, but now with the
help of companies like Amazon, Flipkart, Uber etc
who have a huge employee base, the govt is tak-
ing their help to identify their employees who are
eligible under the scheme.
"Our plan is to reach 500 million people across the country. Our data and qual-
ity of reach in urban areas is not as good as in rural areas... So if the pilot with
Uber succeeds, we are looking at similar tie-ups with private sector companies,"
Indu Bhushan, CEO, Ayushman Bharat said. Uber India CEO Pradeep
IRDAI and the National Health Au-
thority (NHA) have formed a working Parameswaran told the paper that 40 percent of its partner-drivers will be eli-
gible for the scheme.
group on the Ayushman Bharat
Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana
(AB-PMJAY). The joint working Diabetes: Sedentary lifestyle also culprit apart from sugar
group, to be chaired by Dinesh According to experts sugar is not the sole culprit for increase in diabetes cases
Arora, Deputy CEO of NHA, will have in India rather several other factors like sedentary lifestyle
10 members from both the and growing urbanisation, are causing diabetes. In a confer-
organisations. ence on 'Sugar and Health', organised by the Indian Sugar
In six months, it will submit a report Mills Association (ISMA), the premier association of private
on how to detect and deter fraud sugar factories in the country, industry players said there was
through a common repository and an annual increase of 6.25 per cent in diabetes cases in the
capacity-building. It will develop country between 2000 and 2016. During the same period, per capita sugar con-
standards for field verifications and sumption grew by only 1.23 per cent.
investigations besides guidelines to
ISMA's efforts to highlight the health benefits of sugar come at a time when
"name and shame" fraudsters.
India is staring at a massive glut in the sugar market, with production in the
As part of Network Hospitals Man- 2018-19 sugar season (October to November) projected at around 30-31 mil-
agement, the working group will lion tonnes, compared with an estimated consumption of 26 million tonnes. A
define hospital infrastructure and high opening stock, along with a low off take in the domestic and international
facility audits, and develop a markets, could leave the country saddled with sugar stocks in excess of 11 mil-
roadmap to get a common list of lion tonnes by the time the 2018-19 season ends.
accredited hospitals for the industry.
"India's annual sugar consumption is 18.4 kg, one of lowest in the world. It is
It will also take up a comparative lower than even Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and yet we have such high number of
study of packages and their rates, diabetes cases. This shows the problem perhaps lies elsewhere, not in sugar
besides defining standards. consumption," said Abinash Verma, director general of ISMA.

The Insurance Times, April 2019 11