112 Treatments Covered Under Ayushman Bharat May Move Exclusively to Government Hospitals From Dec 1
Summarized by AI; it may make mistakes. Check important info
Summarized by AI; it may make mistakes. Check important info
Beneficiaries of the Ayushman Bharat scheme will soon have to visit government hospitals for free treatment across 112 medical packages, as the Centre moves to remove these procedures from private empanelled facilities starting December 1, 2026.
The National Health Authority (NHA) has directed all State Health Authorities (SHAs) to reserve 89 additional treatment packages exclusively for public hospitals, building on the 23 packages already restricted to state-run centres. While the NHA aims to standardise the shift nationwide through its Transaction Management System (TMS), individual states retain the discretion to decide whether to drop these packages from private hospitals.
What Treatments Are Moving to Public Hospitals
In a formal communication to state authorities, NHA Deputy Secretary Dr Shailesh confirmed that the updated list of reserved packages will go live on the TMS platform from December 1. The move spans day-care procedures, surgeries, and long-term treatments across seven major departments: general medicine, general surgery, gynaecology, psychiatry, orthopaedics, ENT, and ophthalmology.
Key conditions and procedures earmarked for public facilities include:
- Surgeries and Gynaecology: Cataract operations, hysterectomy, medical termination of pregnancy (MTP), cyst and fistula removals, biopsies, and fracture management.
- General Medicine: High-risk deliveries, severe anaemia, alcoholic liver disease, hepatitis, pancreatitis, acute bronchitis, malaria, chikungunya, and severe diarrhoea.
- Mental Health and ENT: Psychiatric care, mood disorders, anxiety, ADHD, stress management, glaucoma screening, and routine ENT interventions.
Why It Matters and How States Are Preparing
Health policy experts note that reserving routine and secondary-care packages for public hospitals is designed to curb excessive payouts to private facilities while channelling funds back into strengthening government healthcare infrastructure.
States are currently auditing staffing levels and surgical capacities before enforcing the December rollout. In Uttarakhand, where over 350 public and private hospitals are empanelled under the scheme, the SHA has begun consulting medical experts and collecting facility data. Dr RS Bisht, Medical Superintendent of Doon Medical College Hospital, confirmed that public teaching hospitals are already performing nearly all of the listed procedures and are submitting capacity reports to the state authority.
Alongside the package overhaul, patients seeking to file complaints against doctors over improper treatment will face a stricter procedural requirement, with grievances now accepted only on a ₹10 affidavit.
Background and What Comes Next
Several states—including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Punjab, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir—have already partially implemented public-hospital reservations for select Ayushman packages.
Over the coming weeks, state health authorities across India will finalise their capacity assessments and notify the NHA whether they will adopt the uniform December 1 transition across their empanelled hospital networks.
