Publication:

Healthier mind builds healthier nation under ABArK

Background The State of Karnataka launched a scheme called “Arogya Karnataka” as a part of universal health coverage following the Karnataka Integrated Public Health Policy 2017 and Karnataka Vision 2025 document. With the goal of achieving universal health coverage (UHC), Karnataka, a national leader in healthcare, launched the Arogya Karnataka scheme in March 2018.  It was later integrated with the government  of  India's  national  health protection  scheme Ayushman  Bharat  Pradhan  Mantri  Jan  Arogya  Yojana(AB-PMJAY)  to  help  with  financial protection. Mental health, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), refers to “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community”.

Methods A cross-sectional analysis of data collected from the State Health Agency, Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust (SAST) portal. The study was conducted for a period 12 months from January to December 2022.

Results The study included 7292 mental disorder patients, majority of were male (70.95%), having age group of 31-45 years (45.41%), and belonged to the Below poverty line (BPL) (94.54%). Majority of cases were psychoactive substance use (64%) followed by Schizophrenia (22%) and Mental Retardation (14%).

Conclusions Ayushman Bharat –PM-JAY Arogya Karnataka (AB-PMJAY ArK) has potential to reduce the out of pocket expenditure, distress financing and reduce catastrophic health expenditure which will lead to significant impact on health indices.