West Bengal Set to Become the 36th State/UT to Implement Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana

• Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) is the world's largest publicly funded health assurance scheme, offering ₹5 lakh/family/year secondary & tertiary hospitalisation cover.
• West Bengal's accession leaves it as the 36th State/UT to onboard, completing near-universal sub-national coverage; Delhi was the 35th.
• Politically salient: WB had earlier refused to implement PM-JAY, running its own Swasthya Sathi scheme; the 2026 MoU follows a change of government.