Although it has been over four years since the Ayushman Bharat Arogya Karnataka (AB-ArK) health scheme was rolled out, awareness and knowledge about the scheme has still not reached all. A study by the Population Research Centre at Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) in three districts in Karnataka has revealed that only about 56% of the respondents have heard about this health scheme.
Data from the households in Samnapur village from Yadgir, an aspirational district, Chikkonahally village of Tumakuru, a non-aspirational district and also a slum and non-slum area from Chandra Layout in Bengaluru was collected to assess awareness and knowledge about the scheme, said Professor C M Lakshmana from ISEC, who conducted the study.
Overall, 56.3% of the respondents had heard about the scheme. Three out of five respondents from Bengaluru Urban and Chikkonahally village (in Tumakuru) had heard of the scheme while about 43% had knowledge about the scheme in Samanpur village (Yadgir). Field surveys for the study were done between December 2022 and January 2023.
