The Health ministry on July 31 said it has joined hands with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) to provide eligibility validation services to beneficiaries, especially in remote areas for the National Health Protection Mission (NHPM).

National Health Agency (NHA) -- the apex body for implementing the Ayushman Bharat (NHPM) health scheme and over 3 lakh Common Service Centres (CSC) under the Digital India programme will be working together for passing information for potential beneficiaries and help in validating their entitlement.

"In Ayushman Bharat, 55 crore people would be benefitted with this revolutionary healthcare scheme. The three lakh CSCs in 2.5 lakh panchayats would be a great help in the implementation of the scheme," Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda said. Talking about the collaboration, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the collaboration will help in identifying and registering the beneficiaries.

AB-NHPM targets approximately 10.74 crore poor, deprived families and has identified occupational category of urban workers' families as per the latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data, for both rural and urban India. Validation of entitled beneficiary through Beneficiary Identification System (BIS) will ensure timely information upto the last mile, facilitating benefits under the health scheme.