A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has flagged data gaps and errors in the Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (PMJAY). The report has highlighted that nearly 7.5 lakh beneficiaries were linked to a single phone number under the scheme. The report was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

The CAG’s audit report said that a total of 7,49,820 beneficiaries were linked with this particular mobile number – 9999999999 – in the Beneficiary Identification System (BIS) of the scheme.

The CAG findings were based on PMJAY’s performance from September 2018 to March 2021. As per the report, there were large numbers of beneficiaries registered against the same or invalid mobile number.

The National Health Authority (NHA) stated that with the deployment of the BIS 2.0, the issue shall be resolved. The NHA further noted that the BIS 2.0 system has been configured to ensure that more than a certain number of families cannot use the same mobile number.

The report also revealed that 43,197 households had unrealistic family sizes ranging from 11 to 201 members. As per the report, the presence of such unrealistic members indicated a lack of essential validation controls in the beneficiary registration process. This also indicates the possibility of beneficiaries taking advantage of the lack of clear guidelines, the report added.

The PMJAY scheme aims to provide a health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to over 12 crore poor and vulnerable families.