Odisha has secured the top position in the country in distributing Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jana Arogya Yojana (ABPMJAY) cards to eligible citizens, achieving the milestone in just nine months after the scheme’s state-level rollout, Health Minister Mukesh Mahaling announced on Monday.
The Minister shared the details during the National-level Chintan Shivir on ABPMJAY and the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) held in Bhubaneswar.
Inaugurating the two-day conference, Mahaling said that ABPMJAY was launched in Odisha on April 11, 2025. It operates in convergence with the state’s own scheme, Gopabandhu Jana Arogya Yojana (GJAY), providing beneficiary families with Rs 5 lakh cashless treatment per year, with an additional Rs 5 lakh reserved for female family members.
Around 80 per cent of Odisha’s 4.5 crore population is now covered under the integrated healthcare scheme, according to the Minister.
In addition to its top rank in general card distribution, Odisha has climbed to fifth place in generating Ayushman Vaya Vandana Yojana (AVVY) cards for senior citizens aged 70 and above within the same nine-month period, Mahaling informed.
More than 22.41 lakh senior citizens in the state are eligible for AVVY benefits. Mahaling emphasised that this scheme is universal for all seniors over 70, regardless of their socio-economic status.
“ABPMJAY, the outcome of the National Health Policy-2017, was launched by our visionary Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring a revolutionary transformation in the healthcare scenario of the country. It has now become the largest universal healthcare system in the world,” he said.
भुवनेश्वर में आयोजित प्रधानमंत्री आयुष्मान भारत जन आरोग्य योजना (PM-JAY) एवं आयुष्मान भारत डिजिटल मिशन (ABDM) चिंतन शिविर का उद्घाटन करना मेरे लिए अत्यंत प्रसन्नता का विषय रहा। इस अवसर पर स्वास्थ्य मंत्रालय, राष्ट्रीय स्वास्थ्य प्राधिकरण तथा राष्ट्रीय स्वास्थ्य मिशन के वरिष्ठ… pic.twitter.com/yxgvZrKvRA
— Dr. Mukesh Mahaling (@MahalingMukesh) January 19, 2026
Around 42 per cent of India’s bottom-level population was brought under this healthcare system, he added.
The Minister also encouraged the participants to explore the integration of Ayurvedic and Homoeopathic treatment packages into the existing allopathic framework of ABPMJAY.
In his address, National Health Authority (NHA) chief executive officer Sunil Kumar Barnwal highlighted that the digital platform of ABPMJAY and ABDM was designed for high interoperability, allowing various service delivery systems to be seamlessly integrated.
Barnwal added that the massive database generated through ABDM will be instrumental for future disease mapping, surveillance, and the promotion of preventive healthcare.
The event also saw the signing of three key MoUs by the NHA – an agreement with BHASINI for multilingual access health service, a partnership with the Indian Institute of Science for collaborative research, and a pact with the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABH) to maintain national quality standards at the level of health facilities.
Among others, 119 delegates and senior officers from 27 states and 7 UTs have participated in the programme.
