Ola and Ayushman Bharat Enter into Partnership to Extend Healthcare Benefits for Driver-partners and Families
Ola, India’s mobility platform and ride-hailing company, and Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), the world’s largest government healthcare scheme, have announced a partnership to facilitate comprehensive health insurance for Ola’s 2 million driver-partners.
Mr Vijay Ghadge, Vice President-Operations, Ola, today signed an MoU with Dr Praveen Gedam, Deputy CEO of AB-PMJAY and National Health Authority to extend the benefits of the Centre-sponsored healthcare scheme to provide secondary and tertiary care to driver-partners and their families. The MoU was signed in the presence of Dr Indu Bhushan, CEO, AB-PMJAY and National Health Authority. A representative from Common Service Centres (CSC), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, also signed the MoU in the capacity of a third-party administrator.
Launched in September last year, AB-PMJAY provides 10.74 crore economically disadvantaged and vulnerable families in India with hospitalization benefits through a health cover of Rs. 5 lakh in government and empanelled private hospitals. As a part of the partnership, the two organizations will work in tandem to identify driver-partners eligible for the scheme and provide them with access to benefits under the PM-JAY scheme. Through this collaboration, hundreds of thousands of eligible driver-partners will be able to access in-patient care for serious illnesses at a country-wide network of 18,073 government and private hospitals empanelled under PM-JAY. Driver-partners can get their AB-PMJAY e-cards issued at the nearest Ola office.
This milestone development follows a series of benefits Ola has extended to its driver-partners towards their financial inclusion, including access to credit, tailored financial products and subsidized insurance and interest rates for their personal and professional needs.
Dr Praveen Gedam, Deputy CEO, Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY said, “The goal of AB-PMJAY scheme is to provide access to quality curative health care and ensure it reaches every last citizen who is eligible. Ola, as India’s largest mobility platform, reaches out to a vast network of drivers.
We appreciate Ola’s efforts in supporting the Government of India’s universal healthcare goals and are confident that our combined energies will accelerate our goal to reach 500 million people across the country.”
Speaking about the partnership, Vijay Ghadge, Vice President- Operations, Ola, said, “Driver-partners and their welfare are a key priority for us and we are constantly working towards improving their lives and are committed to their well-being. We applaud the government’s efforts to strengthen access to healthcare and widen the scope of coverage. In partnering with Ayushman Bharat, we are addressing the evolving needs of our driver-partners, offering them, and their families, access to reliable and quality healthcare services.”
The first phase will see Ola and AB-PMJAY conduct a pilot in Delhi NCR, which will subsequently be rolled out at scale to other cities across the country. Eligible driver-partners as well as Ola employees, across verticals, will be able to avail the benefits of the program and obtain an Ayushman Bharat card at a minimal cost of Rs. 30. Officials from the National Health Authority will work closely with the concerned department at Ola to carry out efficient handling of the process from checking eligibility to handing out AB-PMJAY e-cards. They will also train Ola staff to execute the process independently.
In the past, Ola has partnered with several state governments and government initiatives including Skill India, Digital India and Swachh Bharat, amongst others. Most recently, Ola partnered with Avail Finance to build customized financial solutions, including micro-savings and micro-insurance products for Ola’s driver-partners. Ola conducts various skilling programs for its driver-partners and also provides a stream of new-age financial solutions that are tailored to their needs. Ola Foundation, the company's social welfare arm, empowers women from low-income backgrounds with a host of upskilling and career advancement programmes and includes a significant number of wives and mothers of Ola driver-partners.
