Study: Need expanded cancer coverage, early diagnosis
New Delhi: India’s flagship health insurance programme, Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, has emerged as a lifeline for cancer patients, offering financial protection and timely access to care that would otherwise be out of reach for most of them, even as a huge gap still exists in annual allocation and requirement, a recently released study said.
The FinCan study, conducted by oncologists and health economists led by Dr Abhishek Shankar, Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, DRBRAIRCH (Dr B R Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital) under AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) Delhi, provided fresh insights into the programme’s strengths and pointed out opportunities to supercharge its impact.
The AB-PMJAY has undeniably improved access to oncology treatments, the authors said.
According to government data, the scheme has helped cover over 68 lakh cancer treatments worth around Rs 13,000 crore since its inception in 2018, especially benefiting rural and low-income populations.
Targeted therapies accounted for a significant share of that outreach, a crucial advance in modern cancer care.
A study published in The Lancet found that enrolment under AB-PMJAY raised the likelihood of initiating cancer treatment within 30 days of diagnosis by about 90 per cent compared to pre-2018 levels.
The FinCan study demonstrated that delivering the full five-year Standard of Care for cancer -- including diagnostics, surgery, targeted drugs, radiotherapy and follow-up -- would require an estimated Rs 33,000 crore annually.
The AB-PMJAY currently allocates only about Rs 7,700 crore per year for cancer under its existing package structure, indicating that a huge gap still exists in spite of reducing the access issues to a larger extent.
Shankar, who led the FinCan Study, said, “Better cancer care is not only about spending more but also about spending smarter, especially where early diagnosis and well-designed coverage can prevent both late-stage suffering and catastrophic costs.”
FinCan models showed that expediting diagnosis and treatment initiation will save about Rs 1,500 crore annually and translate into 1,560 additional survivors per year.
