Twenty-three-year-old Punam Mahto doesn’t yet know her daughter, born on Sunday afternoon at Khasmahal district sadar hospital, is Jharkhand’s first delivery under Pradhan Mantri-Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) Ayushman Bharat, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the same day.

Ayushmati can well be the little girl’s name.

Born after Punam underwent a C-section at 1.10pm at Khasmahal based District Sadar Hospital, when Modi had reached the Ranchi dais to announce the scheme, the baby girl is doing well.

Punam’s delivery and pharmacy expenses estimated at Rs 18,500 will be borne by National Insurance under PM-JAY Ayushman Bharat. Her golden card under the scheme was generated on September 23 around 11am after which she went for her C-section.

A homemaker from Basurda village in Gamharia at Seraikela-Kharsawan near Jamshedpur, Punam, who has a five-year-old son Jaidev, does not yet know how special her baby girl is. “I only know we don’t have to pay money here,” she said. Asked if she had heard of Ayushman Bharat, she said, “No, but now you people (the media) are telling me.”

Her husband Sikandar, an industrial worker in Gamharia, decided to admit her here because Sadar Hospital of Seraikela- Kharsawan, her district, would be pretty far from their Basurda home. “If he had to commute 20km to hospital and back, he would have lost on work and wages,” Punam said, adding her mother Taruna was at the Khasmahal hospital with her. “I have to stay under observation for a week.”

Feebe Surin, in-charge of the labour room of Khasmahal Sadar Hospital, said hospital authorities were elated at the delivery. “We are proud we helped deliver the first child in Jharkhand under PM-JAY Ayushman Bharat,” Surin beamed broadly.

The hospital provided all services, including food, medicines, consultation and pathological tests, free of cost to the patient. Prakash Singh, divisional trainer cum coordinator, National Insurance, Kolhan division, explained that irrespective of whether the hospital was public or private, a beneficiary would get services under PM-JAY Ayushman Bharat.

“The estimated cost including everything is Rs 18,500 which the insurance company will pay the hospital concerned. The process would have worked out the same for any empanelled hospital, private or public. The beneficiary (Punam) can go to any hospital with her golden card. Her family, like all other beneficiaries, has a cover of Rs 5 lakh annually at any empanelled hospital.”