Ayushman Sahakar Scheme

Context

The Union Minister for Home and Cooperation provided an update in the Rajya Sabha regarding the Ayushman Sahakar Scheme. The update highlighted the scheme's role in strengthening rural healthcare through cooperative institutions and the funding disbursed by the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) for the 2025-26 period.

About the Scheme

What It Is: A unique healthcare funding scheme formulated by the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) to assist cooperative societies in building and modernizing healthcare infrastructure.
Launched: October 19, 2020 (in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic).
Ministry: Ministry of Cooperation (transferred from the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare following the creation of the new ministry).
Financial Corpus: NCDC has earmarked ₹10,000 crore for term loans to cooperatives over a five-year period.

Key Features

Eligibility: Any cooperative society (State or Multi-State) with provisions for healthcare services in its bye-laws. This includes hospitals run by cooperatives, and even cooperatives formed by doctors.
Comprehensive Financial Aid:
- Scope: Covers establishment, modernization, expansion, and repairs of hospitals, medical colleges (MBBS/BDS/AYUSH), diagnostic centers, and pharmacies.
- Loan Details: Loans cover up to 90% of the project cost (recently revised from 70% to 90% to ease credit access).
- Tenure: Up to 8 years, including a 1–2 year moratorium on principal repayment.
Women’s Incentive: Cooperatives where women members are in the majority receive a 1% interest subvention (reduction) on term loans.
Working Capital: Provides "Margin Money" and working capital to ensure smooth day-to-day operations of the healthcare facilities.

Significance

Strengthening Rural Health: Leverages the deep network of cooperatives in rural India to provide affordable, community-owned healthcare where private and public facilities may be limited.
Promoting AYUSH: Specifically incentivizes the creation of infrastructure for Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy, aligning with the National Health Policy 2017.
Digital Integration: Encourages cooperatives to participate in the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), creating a digitized healthcare ecosystem at the grassroots.
Complementary Role: Supports the government's aim of "Sahakar-se-Samriddhi" (Prosperity through Cooperation) by diversifying the business of agricultural and other cooperatives into the service sector.

Challenges

Low Awareness: Many primary agricultural credit societies (PACS) are unaware of the funding available for diversifying into healthcare services.
Technical Capacity: Grassroots cooperatives often lack the technical expertise required to manage complex medical facilities or large-scale medical colleges.
Geographic Imbalance: Success has been largely concentrated in states with strong cooperative cultures (like Kerala and Maharashtra), with lower uptake in northern and eastern states.

Way Forward

Convergence: Dovetail Ayushman Sahakar with other central schemes like Ayushman Bharat (PM-JAY) to ensure cooperative hospitals are empanelled for cashless treatment.
Capacity Building: MoSPI and NCDC should provide training and technical handholding to societies looking to venture into healthcare.
Infrastructure Audit: Regular audits to ensure that the 90% funding is leading to quality infrastructure that meets National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABH) standards.

Conclusion

Ayushman Sahakar is a landmark initiative that shifts healthcare from a purely commercial or state-led model to a community-led model. By empowering cooperatives to become healthcare providers, the government aims to bridge the rural-urban health divide while fostering economic resilience among cooperative members.

Ayushman Sahakar Scheme