Ola partners with Ayushman Bharat to add extended healthcare benefits for driver-partners and families

L-R: Indu Bhushan, CEO, Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY, Praveen Gedam, Deputy CEO, Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY, Vijay Ghadge, Vice President- Operations, Ola, Rishikesh Patankar, Vice President, CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd, Sandeep Bhargava, Vice President Corporate Affairs & COO Ola Skilling Private Ltd, Ola

Implemented by the National Health Authority, ‘Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana’, is India’s flagship public health insurance/assurance scheme

• Aligned with Ola’s efforts of elevating the welfare of its driver-partners and easing their financial burdens, the partnership will provide comprehensive health insurance for secondary and tertiary care to tens of thousands of driver-partners and their families
• Beginning with driver-partners in Delhi NCR, the partnership’s implementation will be extended to other cities, covering Ola’s varied verticals ranging from financial services, food and skilling

New Delhi, September 19, 2019: Ola,  India’s largest mobility platform and one of the world’s largest ride-hailing companies, 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. 

About Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana

Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) is the flagship scheme of Government of India that provides a cover of up to Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year, for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to over 10.74 crore vulnerable entitled families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries). PM-JAY provides cashless and paperless access to services for the beneficiary at the point of service.

About National Health Authority (NHA):

The National Health Authority (NHA) is responsible for providing the overall stewardship for design, roll- out, implementation and management of Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana at the national level. Headed by a full-time CEO, NHA is governed by a Governing Board chaired by the Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare and has 11 members. Inter-alia, its functions include, formulation of PMJAY policies, development of operational guidelines, implementation mechanisms, coordination with state governments, monitoring and oversight, among others.

About Ola:

Ola is India’s largest mobility platform and one of the world’s largest ride-hailing companies, serving 250+ cities across India, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. The Ola app offers mobility solutions by connecting customers to drivers and a wide range of vehicles across bikes, auto-rickshaws, metered taxis, and cabs, enabling convenience and transparency for hundreds of millions of consumers and over 2 million driver-partners.

 Ola’s core mobility offering in India is supplemented by its electric-vehicle arm, Ola Electric; India’s largest fleet management business, Ola Fleet Technologies and Ola Skilling that aims to enable millions of livelihood opportunities for India’s youth. With its acquisition of Ridlr, India’s leading public transportation app and investment in Vogo, a dockless scooter sharing solution, Ola is looking to build mobility for the next billion Indians. Ola also extends its consumer offerings like micro-insurance and credit led payments through Ola Financial Services and a range of owned food brands through India’s largest network of kitchens under its Food business.

Ola was founded in 2011 by Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati with a mission to build mobility for a billion people. For more details, visitwww.olacabs.com/media.