New Delhi : The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare provides financial assistance for treatment of poor patients suffering from identified life threatening diseases and taking treatment in Government hospitals, under the Umbrella Scheme of Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) and Health Minister’s Discretionary Grant.
Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN): Under the Umbrella Scheme of Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi, one-time financial assistance up to Rs. 15 lakh is provided to patients belonging to poor families living below threshold poverty lines and suffering from major identified life-threatening diseases for medical treatment at Government hospitals.
RAN has three components, namely (i) Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) – to provide financial assistance to patients suffering from life threatening diseases other than Cancer, (ii) Health Minister’s Cancer Patients Fund (HMCPF) – to provide financial assistance to patients suffering from Cancer; and (iii) Scheme for financial assistance up to Rs. 20 Lakh for patients suffering from specified rare diseases.
Guidelines regarding implementation of Umbrella Scheme of Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi is available at https://main.mohfw.gov.in/Major-Programmes/poor-patientsfinancialassistance/rashtriya-arogya-nidhi.
Health Minister’s Discretionary Grant (HMDG): Under Health Minister’s Discretionary Grant (HMDG), financial assistance up to a maximum of Rs. 1.25 lakhs is provided to the poor indigent patients to defray a part of the expenditure on hospitalization/treatment in Government Hospitals for life threatening diseases covered under Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) in cases where free medical facilities are not available. Only those having annual family income up to Rs.1.25 lakhs and below are eligible for financial assistance under the scheme.
Financial assistance for eligible patients is released to treating hospitals. There is no State/UT-wise/District-wise allocation of funds under RAN scheme. Therefore, State-wise/District-wise data is not maintained.
In order to simplify/streamline the functioning of RAN to expedite the approvals, Government has launched these schemes on the National Health Authority IT platform. It enables release of financial assistance to the eligible applicants identified online through the Government’s existing database.
Details of funds allocated and released under Umbrella Scheme of RAN and HMDG during the last three years and current year are as under:
(Figure in crores)
| Scheme | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | ||||
| Allocated | Released | Allocated | Released | Allocated | Released | Allocated | Released | |
| HMCPF | 50.00 | 35.67 | 50.00 | 18.10 | 40.00 | 6.83 | 40.00 | 0.78 |
| RAN | 50.00 | 29.25 | 50.00 | 16.26 | 40.00 | 12.87 | 40.00 | 2.42 |
| Rare Disease | 50.00 | 1.30 | 77.32 | 10.00 | 25.00 | 3.15 | 25.00 | – |
| HMDG | 6.00 | 3.48 | 6.00 | 1.44 | 5.00 | 1.16 | 5.00 | 0.80 |
The Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar stated this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
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