Page 314 - ES 2020-21_Volume-1-2 [28-01-21]

JAY Ho: Ayushman Bharat's Jan Arogya Yojana (JAY) and Health Outcomes 297

9.27 Crucially, the proportion of population that had health insurance increased from NHFS 4 to
NFHS 5 in Bihar, Assam and Sikkim by 89 per cent. The corresponding change in West Bengal
was -12 per cent. As the PM-JAY was launched in 2018 and NHFS 4 and NFHS 5 cover the pre-
and post-PM-JAY periods respectively, the significant increase in health insurance coverage in
Bihar, Assam and Sikkim can be attributed to the effect of PM-JAY.

9.28 Figure 6 compares in West Bengal with its adjoining states (Bihar, Assam and Sikkim).
Important differences emerge here. While infant and child mortality declined for all states, the
decline has been sharper for states that implemented PM-JAY. While infant mortality rates
declined by 20 per cent for West Bengal, the decline for the three neighbours was higher at
28 per cent. Similarly, while Bengal saw a fall of 20 per cent in its Under-5 mortality rate, the
neighbours witnessed a 27 per cent reduction. The reduction in neo-natal mortality rates were
similar for the four states: 30 per cent for West Bengal and a marginally higher 31 per cent for
the three neighbours.

Figure 6: Infant and Child Mortality Rates (per 1,000 live births):
West Bengal versus Adjoining States (Bihar, Sikkim, Assam)

Source: National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 4 and 5

9.29 As seen in Figure 7, the use of at least one family planning method increased across all
four states. However, similar to what we observed in the case of child mortality, the increase
has been higher in states that have adopted PM-JAY. Modern methods of contraception went
up by 36 per cent, female sterilization is up by 22 per cent, pill usage shot up by 28 per cent
and condoms by 104 per cent in the 3 neighbouring states while the respective figures for West
Bengal were 6 per cent, ~0 per cent, ~0 per cent and only 19 per cent.