Bhubaneswar: Health and Family Welfare and IT Minister Dr. Mukesh Mahaling on Tuesday said the State has made strong progress in implementing Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) and the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), citing its leading performance in PM-JAY card distribution and the widening reach of cashless healthcare services.
Dr. Mahaling was speaking during the inauguration of a two-day Chintan Shivir organized by the National Health Authority (NHA) on AB PM-JAY and ABDM in Bhubaneswar on January 19–20. He stated that ensuring affordable and quality healthcare remains a key priority for the government, and reiterated Odisha’s commitment to strengthening service delivery and accelerating the rollout of digital health systems.
NHA Chief Executive Officer Dr. Sunil Kumar Barnwal, in his opening remarks, said India’s national health IT platform supporting AB PM-JAY allows multiple health schemes to operate on common standards while giving states flexibility to tailor implementation as per local needs. He said the Chintan Shivir aims to review progress, share best practices and address challenges faced by states in implementing AB PM-JAY and ABDM.
Dr. Barnwal said Odisha is moving towards large-scale implementation of ABDM to build an integrated digital health ecosystem linking public and private hospitals, enabling digital health records, and ensuring patient-centric care.
During the event, the NHA signed three Memoranda of Understanding with Bhashini, the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, and NABH-QCI to improve multilingual access to digital health services, promote AI-driven healthcare innovations, and strengthen quality standards. The NHA also released the Health Benefit Package Manual – Part 2 and a Best Practices Compendium under AB PM-JAY, according to an official statement.
Officials from nearly 30 States and Union Territories participated in the deliberations. Discussions covered the Ayushman App, auto-adjudication, ABDM integration in PM-JAY empanelled hospitals, onboarding of health professionals on national registries, and measures to strengthen fraud detection mechanisms.
