IIM-Amritsar students carry out study on Ayushman Bharat scheme

Divya Sharma

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 2

Students of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Amritsar have carried out a study on the effective implementation of the Ayushman Bharat scheme in hospitals. In their study, the students have found that there is a need for more staff and better communication for the speedy implementation of the scheme. Management students Manoj Gupta and Vikash Kumar, supervised by their assistant professor Neeraj Bhanot, conducted a study as part of their supply management subject. The study was conducted in July, August, September and October months.

During their study, the group visited Civil Hospital, Manawala, primary health centres to look into the implementation of the scheme introduced by the government of India in 2018. The students picked tuberculosis treatment to look into management aspect of tackling TB, just a sample for the project.

The supply management chain is basically a journey of procuring a thing till it reaches its destination in management studies.

“The students visited hospitals as part of their study to know about the working of scheme and its benefits. The students in their study have said there is a need for more staff and proper establishment of communication network. Even though compared to past scheme, Ayushman Bharat scheme offers more incentives to the patients and Asha workers. There is a need for improvement,” said Neeraj Bhanot.

On being asked about studying the treatment chain for tuberculosis, Manoj Gupta, previously a medical practitioner, said, “I had been in the field of science. Hence, I decided to go in study the scheme’s management aspect. TB has a shorter treatment but has to be continuous one. We have just taken this as a sample for our study.”

Vikash Kumar, another student, said, “We talked to people. We have come out with a conclusion that there is a need to empower existing mechanism. There should be no dearth of funds.The records of patients should be kept online that could allow doctors to access an individual’s data from anywhere."