Ayushman Bharat review held in Kolkata on 5 and 6 November set a quality roadmap for the scheme, with the National Health Authority chief saying every rupee spent on healthcare must lead to better care for people. The two-day National Review Meeting brought together officials from across the country, and it looked at how the scheme is working on the ground. NHA chief executive Dr Sunil Kumar Barnwal said the focus must be on quality as well as numbers, and that the meeting was aimed at making sure the money is spent well.
The Ayushman Bharat review in Kolkata covered 15 sessions, and it looked at the scheme from the states to the hospitals. West Bengal, which hosted the meeting, has enrolled 4.2 crore beneficiaries and treated 2.2 lakh people since the scheme was launched in the state on 16 August 2026. The state has issued more than 4 crore Ayushman Cards, and the meeting heard that the cards are the key to the scheme, since they let people get treatment without paying at the hospital.
Ayushman Bharat review delegates heard about the Model Digital Health Facility Framework, which sets out how hospitals should use digital tools to improve care. The framework covers the way hospitals keep records, the way they share information and the way they track the quality of treatment. The meeting also heard about the experience of Tripura, which has used the scheme in a different setting, and about the BODH platform presented by Prof Phaneendra Yalavarthy of TANUH at IISc Bengaluru.
Ayushman Bharat review and the quality roadmap
The Ayushman Bharat review set out a roadmap for quality, with the NHA saying the scheme must be judged on the care it delivers. Barnwal said every rupee spent on healthcare must lead to better care for people, and that the meeting was aimed at making sure the money is spent well. The roadmap covers the way hospitals are checked, the way treatment is tracked and the way patients are followed up. The NHA said the roadmap will be shared with the states, and that the states will be asked to report on how they are doing.
Ayushman Bharat review sessions also covered Sandbox 2.0, the NHA platform for testing agentic AI in healthcare. The platform lets companies and researchers test AI tools in a safe setting, before they are used in hospitals. The meeting heard that AI could help with the work of the scheme, from checking claims to tracking the quality of care. The NHA said the platform will be used to test the tools, and that the results will be shared with the states.
Ayushman Bharat review and the West Bengal numbers
The Ayushman Bharat review in Kolkata gave West Bengal a chance to show what it has done since the scheme was launched in the state on 16 August 2026. The state has enrolled 4.2 crore beneficiaries, issued more than 4 crore Ayushman Cards and treated 2.2 lakh people. The meeting heard that the numbers show the scheme is reaching people, and that the focus now must be on the quality of the care. The state has said it will follow the roadmap set out by the NHA, and that it will report on its progress.
Ayushman Bharat review delegates also heard from the states, which shared their experience of running the scheme. The meeting covered 15 sessions, and it looked at the scheme from the enrolment of beneficiaries to the treatment in hospitals. The NHA said the review was aimed at finding what works and what needs to change, and that the states would be asked to act on the findings. The meeting ended with the roadmap for quality, and the NHA said the states would be held to it.
The Ayushman Bharat review in Kolkata set the direction for the scheme in the months ahead, with quality at the centre of the roadmap. The NHA chief said every rupee spent on healthcare must lead to better care for people, and the meeting set out how that will be checked. West Bengal has enrolled 4.2 crore beneficiaries and treated 2.2 lakh people, and the state will now follow the roadmap. The review is over, but the work it set out has just begun.