Ayushman Sahakar Scheme is scheme of NCDC (National Cooperative Development Corporation) for financial assistance to cooperatives on holistic healthcare infrastructure, education and services
AYUSHMAN SAHAKAR
Hospital, healthcare and education are notified services under the NCDC Act as per Gazette Notification of the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. NCDC extends financial assistance for notified services.
Primary, Secondary and Tertiary healthcare institutions run by Cooperatives with NCDC assistance have been serving the people successfully.
Objectives
Hon’ble Prime Minister has launched the National Digital Health Mission on 15th August, 2020. This will bring a new revolution in India’s health sector and it will help reduce problems in getting treatment with the help of technology.
Aligning itself with the focus on National Health Policy 2017, aimed at shaping the health systems in all its dimensions- investments in health, organization of healthcare services, prevention of diseases and promotion of good health through cross sectoral actions, access to technologies, developing human resources, encouraging medical pluralism, building knowledge base, developing better financial protection strategies, strengthening regulation and health assurance and to provide affordable healthcare to all, there is need to have a comprehensive approach – hospitals, healthcare, medical education, nursing education, paramedical education, health insurance and integrate with holistic health systems such as AYUSH. It is observed that due to lack of credit support, many cooperative hospitals find difficulty to start new aspects of medical education including colleges offering MBBS, BDS, BAMS, BHMS, BPT and BUMS and also PG / DNB programmes. Accordingly, NCDC has introduced AYUSHMAN SAHAKAR Scheme. [ Also Read : PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana ]
Objectives of the scheme are:
a) To assist provision of affordable and holistic healthcare through hospitals /
healthcare / education facilities by cooperative societies,
b) To assist promotion of AYUSH facilities by cooperative societies,
c) To assist cooperative societies meet the objectives of National Health Policy,
d) To assist cooperative societies participate in the National Digital Health Mission,
e) To assist cooperative societies provide comprehensive healthcare including
education, services, insurance and activities related thereto.
National Health Policy marks a historic moment in our endeavour to create a healthy India where everyone has access to quality healthcare
Shri Narendra Modi, Hon’ble PM
What Are the Features of Ayushman Sahakar Scheme?
The features of the Ayushman Sahakar Scheme are as follows –
- The National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) formulated this scheme. NCDC comes under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers welfare.
- This scheme (Ayushman Sahakar scheme) helps increase the provision of the healthcare services cooperatives offer.
- It covers the following:
- Establishment
- Modernization
- Expansion
- Repairs and
- Renovation of hospitals, healthcare infrastructure and education.
- Ayushman Sahakar Fund is available via National Cooperative Development Corporation, and any cooperative society is open to access the funds provided they perform healthcare-related activities.
- This government will provide loans to the tune of Rs. 10,000 crore to the cooperatives. Moreover, working money and margin capital will also be available.
- An interest subvention of 1% will be available to women majority cooperatives.
Activities Covered Under Ayushman Sahakar
1) Infrastructure: For creation, modernization, expansion, repairs, renovation of hospital, healthcare and education infrastructure covering-
a) All types of infrastructure for:
i) Hospitals and/ or Medical/ AYUSH/ Dental/ Nursing/ Pharmacy/ Paramedical/ Physiotherapy colleges for running UG and /or PG programmes,
ii) Yoga Wellness Centre,
iii) Ayurveda, Allopathy, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy other traditional medicine healthcare centres,
iv) Health care services for elderly,
v) Palliative care services,
vi) Health care services for Persons with Disabilities,
vii) Mental healthcare services,
viii) Emergency Medical Services / Trauma Centre,
ix) Physiotherapy centre,
x) Mobile Clinic Services,
xi) Health Club and Gym,
xii) AYUSH pharmaceutical manufacturing,
xiii) Drug testing laboratory,
xiv) Dental care centre,
xv) Ophthalmic care centre,
xvi) Laboratory services,
xvii) Diagnostics services,
xviii) Blood Bank / Transfusion services,
xix) Panchkarma/ Thokkanam/ Kshar sutra therapy centre,
xx) Regimental Therapy of Unani (Ilaj Bil Tadbeer) centre,
xxi) Maternal health and Childcare services,
xxii) Reproductive and Child Health services,
xxiii) Any other related centre or services as may be deemed fit by NCDC for assistance.
b) Telemedicine and remote assisted medical procedures,
c) Logistics health, healthcare and education,
d) Information and Communication Technology related to digital health,
e) Health insurance accredited by Insurance Regulatory and Development
Authority (IRDA).
2) Margin money for raising working capital required for day-to-day operations in respect of those mentioned in the para1 above.
3) Working capital for day-to-day operations.
Eligibility
Any Cooperative Society registered under any State/ Multi State Cooperative Societies Act in the country, with suitable provision in the bye-laws to undertake services related to hospital/ healthcare/ health education, shall be eligible for the financial assistance subject to fulfilment of guidelines under the scheme. [Also Read : Startup India Seed Fund Scheme]
NCDC assistance shall be provided either through the State Governments/ UT Administrations or directly to the cooperatives which fulfil NCDC Direct Funding guidelines. Dovetailing with other schemes or programmes of Government of India/ State Government/ Other funding Agency is permitted.
Loan Period
Period of loan will be for 8 years, including 1-2 years moratorium on repayment of principal, depending on the type of project and its ability to generate revenue.
Rate of Interest
As per NCDC circular for interest rate as amended from time to time. As an incentive, NCDC will provide 1% less than applicable rate of interest on term loan for the project activities in case of borrower cooperative society where women members are in majority for the entire tenure of the loan only if timely repayments are made.
Security
NCDC assistance is provided either through State Government or under Direct Funding. In case of direct funding, the cooperative society may offer security for the loan in any one or combination of the following to the satisfaction of NCDC:
a) Mortgage of assets, including assets to be created under the project, to the extent of 1.5 times of NCDC loan;
b) Guarantee by State/ Central Government;
c) Pledge of FDRs of scheduled banks/ nationalized banks, to the extent of 1.2 times of NCDC loan;
d) Guarantee by Central PSUs/ Statutory bodies/ CSR Foundations of Central PSUs;
e) Guarantee from scheduled banks/ Nationalized Banks;
f) Hypothecation and assignment of Government bonds/ securities to the extent of 1.2 times of NCDC loan.
