Unfortunate that some states opted out of Ayushman Bharat: Sitharaman

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has termed it unfortunate that some states have chosen to opt out of the Centre's ambitious Ayushman Bharat scheme for "political expediency".

In a Facebook post dated January 23, Sitharaman said, "It (Ayushman Bharat) has already achieved a paradigm shift in healthcare within 3 months of its launch and has managed to provide succour to the poorest of the poor and the middle class...it is very unfortunate that some states have chosen to opt out of the scheme for reasons of political expediency."

She added that once fully implemented, Ayushman Bharat - which is also known as PM-JAY or Pradhanmantri Jan Aarogya Yojana - will become world's largest fully government-financed health protection scheme.

On January 10, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced that the state was pulling out of the scheme, accusing the Narendra Modi-led NDA government of "playing dirty politics" under the garb of the health coverage programme.

"You(Narendra ...