New Delhi, July 4: The National Health Agency (NHA) on Wednesday called on public and private hospitals to get empaneled under the Ayushman Bharat programme, popularly known as Modicare, with the "motto of service to mankind" to achieve universal health coverage.

"I call upon each one of you to partner with the mission through the empanelment process initiated today to enhance the accessibility," NHA and Ayushman Bharat CEO Indu Bhushan said, urging the healthcare service providers to join the revolution in "spirit and deed".

Bhushan also requested the governments of all states and Union Territories to help the Ayushman Bharat - National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM) in garnering the support of hospitals and healthcare providers across the country for the path-breaking mission.

The objective is to improve access for the most vulnerable, unreached sections of the population and holistically address healthcare by covering prevention, promotion and ambulatory care at primary, secondary and tertiary levels, Bhushan said. 

Ayushman Bharat Deputy CEO Dinesh Arora said the mission provides financial protection to 10.74 crore deprived rural families and identified occupational categories of urban workers' families as per the latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data. It provides a cover for cashless hospitalization services of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year.

The State Health Agencies (SHA) will start empaneling private and public healthcare service providers and facilities through State Empanelment Committees (SEC). At the district and block level, workshops will be held to brief on empanelment criteria, packages, processes and queries. 

Facilities undertaking defined speciality packages will be required to satisfy additional requirements.

Specific criteria are outlined for cardiology and cardio-thoracic vascular services, cancer care, neurosurgery, burns, plastic and reconstructive surgery, neonatal/paediatric surgery, polytrauma, nephrology and urology surgery.

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Kolkata (PTI): Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar faced protests with a group of people raising 'go back' slogans and showing black flags to him during his visit to Dakshineswar Kali Temple near here on Tuesday morning.

A similar protest over alleged arbitrary deletions in the post-SIR electoral rolls in the state was held outside the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport upon his arrival in Kolkata on Sunday night.

He had faced the 'go back' slogans and was shown black flags on Monday morning when he visited the Kalighat Temple in the southern part of the city.

Despite the protests outside the Dakshineswar Kali Temple, Kumar continued with his scheduled programmes in the state.

The CEC also visited Belur Math in Howrah district this morning, and said the poll panel is committed to violence-free elections in West Bengal.

He said the commission will make efforts to ensure that voters can exercise their franchise in a festive environment.

“The EC would like to ensure that polls will be violence-free or intimidation-free,” Kumar said while speaking to reporters during his visit to Belur Math.

The CEC is on a visit to the state to review poll preparedness and held meetings with political parties and officials on Monday ahead of the assembly elections.

During the meetings on Monday, Kumar warned that any lapse in maintaining law and order ahead of the elections would not be tolerated and stressed the need for strict monitoring to ensure free and fair polls.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had accused Kumar of threatening state officials during a meeting with the administration on Monday, and warned that "false bravado" by constitutional authorities was not acceptable, stepping up the confrontation between the state government and the poll panel over the voter deletions in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

According to official data released on February 28, 63.66 lakh names, around 8.3 per cent of the electorate, have been deleted since the SIR process began in November last year, reducing the voter base from about 7.66 crore to just over 7.04 crore.

In addition, over 60.06 lakh electors have been placed under the "under adjudication" category, meaning their eligibility will be determined through legal scrutiny in the coming weeks, a process that could further reshape constituency-level electoral equations.