Tarun Karthick
Sri Vijaya Puram, 24 October 2025
Mr. Bishnu Pada Ray, Hon’ble Member of Parliament, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, has urged the Administration to provoke native tie-ups between non-public hospitals within the Islands and the Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) community to make sure cashless therapy for sufferers domestically and to curb pointless referrals to mainland hospitals.
In a letter addressed to the Hon’ble Lt. Governor, the MP highlighted that the prevailing limitations in superior medical amenities at G.B. Pant Hospital have resulted in frequent referrals to empanelled mainland hospitals for procedures resembling ophthalmic, cardiac, orthopedic, gynecological, urological, and neurological remedies.
While AB-PMJAY covers therapy bills at empanelled hospitals, Mr. Ray famous that sufferers and their attendants proceed to face heavy monetary burdens as a result of airfare, lodging, and different incidental prices—bills which might be typically unaffordable for a lot of islanders, significantly these from economically weaker backgrounds.
Pointing out that a number of non-public hospitals and diagnostic centres in Port Blair—resembling Apollo Hospitals, Ritika Diagnostic Centre, Arun Hospital, Amritha Health Care, Rohini Hospital, Dr. Agarwal’s Eye Hospital, Pillar Health Centre, Health 4U, and Maricar Hospital—are already outfitted to supply a variety of specialised companies with the help of visiting super-specialists from the mainland, the MP proposed that the Administration enter into Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with such establishments underneath the Ayushman Bharat scheme.
According to Mr. Ray, native empanelment underneath the scheme would:
- Ensure well timed and accessible therapy for islanders;
- Reduce monetary burden on sufferers and households;
- Minimize authorities expenditure on referrals and transportation; and
- Strengthen the healthcare system by way of public–non-public collaboration.
The MP additional knowledgeable that the proposal was deliberated throughout the District Planning Committee assembly held at Port Blair on seventh October 2025, the place members, together with representatives from the Administration, unanimously really helpful exploring such collaborations between the Directorate of Health Services and succesful non-public hospitals.
He added that native tie-ups underneath the Ayushman Bharat scheme wouldn’t solely enhance healthcare accessibility but in addition encourage non-public sector funding in hospital infrastructure and generate employment alternatives for native youth, together with medical doctors and paramedical professionals graduating from ANIIMS and different native establishments.
Mr. Bishnu Pada Ray concluded that implementing this initiative can be a big step in direction of realizing inexpensive, accessible, and inclusive healthcare for the folks of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, in step with the imaginative and prescient of the Hon’ble Prime Minister underneath the Ayushman Bharat mission.
