Health department aims to issue 1 crore AB-ArK cards by October 2

The health department has a steep target to issue the new co-branded AB-ArK (Ayushman Bharat-Arogya Karnataka) insurance cards to over five crore of the state’s population in the next three to four months. But the current pace is much slower than needed.

The drive is now being held in all districts except Bengaluru Urban. The target is to be achieved in phases. Last week, Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar announced that one crore of the cards would be issued by October 2.

A total of 3 crore cards are to be issued by December 15.

“If we have a 100-day plan to cover 3 crore people by December, we need to issue 3 lakh-3.5 lakh cards per day,” says health commissioner D Randeep.

However, data over the past week shows only 1.4 lakh cards were issued per day.

“So our immediate target is to double this to 3 lakh per day,” says Randeep. The department had started the drive in the first week of September.

Currently, the best-achieving district is Haveri, which has met 21% of its target. In all other districts, the achievement is 15% or lesser.

Ballari, Raichur and Yadgir are at the bottom, having enrolled only 2.6%, 4.4% and 5.3% of the beneficiaries respectively.

In absolute terms, the number of cards issued is high, at over 40 lakh. However, the present coverage is just 8.5%.

Randeep says 20% of the target can be achieved only by October end, not October 2.

“The chief secretary has asked the district administrations to get involved because a lot of interdepartmental coordination will be needed. In rural areas, panchayat development officer, local ration shops, ASHA workers, etc, will have to identify beneficiaries. Also, mobile units will reach large catchment areas,” says Randeep.

Currently, the department is focusing on rural areas where much of the BPL population, major beneficiaries under the scheme, is concentrated. The cards are issued by the Grama One centres under e-Governance Department in rural areas.

“The drive will start in Bengaluru in October,” says Randeep.