Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram (Haryana)

What is Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram in Haryana?

Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram (JSSK) is the National Health Mission programme that guarantees zero-expense delivery and zero-expense treatment of sick newborns in government health institutions. In Haryana it is implemented by the Department of Health and Family Welfare and is listed among the department's schemes on the Haryana State DBT portal.

JSSK has a particular connection with Haryana: the programme was launched on 1 June 2011 from Mewat, one of the state's most under-served districts. The national NHM description is that JSSK "entitles all pregnant women delivering in public health institutions to absolutely free and no expense delivery, including caesarean section".

JSSK is not a cash scheme. It is an entitlement scheme, the money is spent by the health system so that the family spends nothing. That distinction matters, because a woman who expects a bank credit from JSSK is confusing it with Janani Suraksha Yojana, which is a separate cash incentive running alongside it.

What does a pregnant woman get under JSSK in Haryana?

According to the NHM Haryana JSSK page, a pregnant woman is entitled to:

• Free and cashless delivery from the time of first diagnosis of pregnancy, including free caesarean section.
• Free drugs and consumables for the whole episode of care.
• Free diagnostics: laboratory tests, ultrasound and other investigations ordered as part of care.
• Free blood transfusion where required.
• Free diet during the institutional stay: up to 3 days for a normal delivery and up to 7 days for a caesarean section.
• Free transport from home to the facility, free inter-facility transport when referred, and free drop back home after discharge.
• Cover for antenatal and postnatal complications of pregnancy, with hospitalisation cost covered up to 6 weeks after delivery.
• Elimination of all out-of-pocket expenses in government facilities.

What does a newborn or infant get under JSSK?

The programme was extended in 2014 to cover sick newborns and, beyond them, all sick infants up to 1 year of age accessing government health institutions for treatment. The entitlements mirror those for the mother:

• Free treatment at the facility, including care in a Sick Newborn Care Unit or Newborn Stabilisation Unit.
• Free drugs and consumables.
• Free diagnostics.
• Free blood, where required.
• Free transport from home to facility, between facilities on referral, and drop back home.

Who is eligible for JSSK in Haryana?

Every pregnant woman is entitled if:

• She delivers in a government health institution in Haryana, a Primary Health Centre, Community Health Centre, Sub-District Hospital, District Hospital or a government medical college hospital.
• She is receiving antenatal, delivery or postnatal care in that public system.

There is no income test, no BPL requirement, no caste condition, no age limit and no cap on the number of deliveries under JSSK. This is one of the very few health entitlements in India that is genuinely universal within the public system, and Haryana applies it that way.

Every sick newborn and infant up to 1 year treated in a government health institution in Haryana is entitled on the same terms.

JSSK does not apply if:

• The delivery or treatment takes place in a private hospital or nursing home at the family's own choice. A woman who books privately cannot apply for JSSK reimbursement afterwards, the scheme funds the public facility directly, it does not reimburse private bills.
• The service sought is outside maternal, newborn or infant care. An adult seeking free treatment for an unrelated illness is not eligible under JSSK, though other Haryana health schemes may apply.
• The infant is older than 1 year.

Do I need documents or an application for JSSK?

No application is required and no form is filled. JSSK entitlements start the moment a pregnant woman or a sick infant reaches a government facility. Carrying the Mother and Child Protection (MCP) card issued at the first antenatal check-up makes registration faster, and the Family ID helps the facility pull up verified household details, but a facility cannot refuse or charge a woman for want of a document.

Documents matter for the linked cash scheme, not for JSSK itself. Aadhaar and a bank passbook are needed for the Janani Suraksha Yojana DBT incentive, which is claimed at the same facility.

How to apply for JSSK in Haryana

JSSK has no application form, so "applying" means following the steps that make the entitlement work at the facility.

1. Register the pregnancy at your nearest Anganwadi centre, Sub-Centre, PHC or Urban PHC in the first trimester, and collect the MCP card. Your ASHA will do this with you.
2. Attend all antenatal check-ups at the government facility, where drugs, tests and ultrasound are free. Note the facility marked for your delivery.
3. Call your ASHA or the facility when labour starts and ask for free transport from home to the facility. Do not pay a private vehicle if the free transport can reach you.
4. Deliver at the government facility. Sign nothing that commits you to a payment, and do not buy drugs, syringes, gloves or blood from outside — all of it is covered.
5. Claim the free diet during your stay to 3 days after a normal delivery, 7 days after a caesarean.
6. Ask for free drop-back home at discharge, and for the referral slip if you are being moved to another facility so that inter-facility transport is arranged free.
7. Bring a sick newborn or infant back to the same public system within the first year. The same free treatment, drugs, diagnostics, blood and transport apply.

What if a facility asks you to pay?

Any demand for money at a government facility for delivery, drugs, tests, blood, diet or transport is a denial of a JSSK entitlement, not a normal charge. The practical order of escalation in Haryana is:

1. Medical Officer in charge of the PHC, CHC or hospital, on the spot.
2. Civil Surgeon / Chief Medical Officer of the district.
3. Haryana health helpline 104, which also functions as a grievance line.
4. 104 Grievance Redressal and Health Helpline portal run by NHM Haryana, for a written complaint with a tracking number.
5. Directorate General Health Services, Swasthya Bhawan, Sector 6, Panchkula

Keep any receipt or chit you were given, a demand recorded on paper is the strongest evidence in a JSSK grievance.

Common problems and how to fix them

• Told to buy medicines from a chemist outside. Ask for the drug from the facility store first and record the refusal; JSSK covers all drugs and consumables.
• Asked to pay for an ultrasound or blood test. Diagnostics are free under JSSK; if the facility cannot do the test, it must arrange it free through its tie-up, not send the family to pay.
• No transport available at night. Insist on the facility arranging transport and record the call time; free transport is a JSSK entitlement in all three legs; home to facility, referral, and drop back.
• Diet not provided after a caesarean. The entitlement runs to 7 days for a caesarean and 3 days for a normal delivery.
• Confusing JSSK with JSY. JSSK gives free services and no cash; Janani Suraksha Yojana gives cash by DBT. Ask the facility to process the JSY claim separately with your Aadhaar and bank details.

Key facts to remember

• JSSK was launched on 1 June 2011 from Mewat, Haryana.
• Free diet is for 3 days after a normal delivery and 7 days after a caesarean.
• Complication cover runs to 6 weeks after delivery.
• Infant cover runs to 1 year of age, extended in 2014.
• There is no application, no income limit and no fee of any kind.

How to check your JSSK entitlement or complaint status

JSSK itself has no application, no reference number and no approval stage, so there is no "status" to track in the way there is for a scholarship or a pension. The entitlement either works at the point of care or it does not. What you can actually track is a complaint, or a linked cash payment.

• If you have raised a complaint through the Medical Officer, the Civil Surgeon's office, or the 104 Grievance Redressal and Health Helpline, ask for the complaint or tracking number at the time you file it. Call 104 again and quote that number to get an update; the helpline logs complaints against a number and can tell you whether it has been forwarded to the district or state office and what action was recorded.
• If you escalated in writing to the Directorate General Health Services in Panchkula, keep a copy of the letter and its receiving stamp or acknowledgement; a written follow-up call after 15 to 20 days is reasonable if you have heard nothing.
• If what you are actually waiting for is money, that is not JSSK, it is the linked Janani Suraksha Yojana cash incentive paid by DBT. That payment does have a status: ask the facility's ASHA or the account section whether your JSY claim was submitted, and check your bank account or passbook for the DBT credit, since JSSK does not pay cash and there is nothing to track on the JSSK side of that transaction.
• There is no online portal login where a patient enters a case ID to see a JSSK claim move through stages. Any status information comes from calling 104 or asking the facility directly, not from a website.

Common reasons a JSSK entitlement gets refused, and what to do

Because there is no form to reject, "rejection" under JSSK means a facility wrongly denying or charging for something that should be free, or a request falling genuinely outside the scheme's scope. Knowing which is which decides whether to escalate or accept the answer.

Genuine reasons JSSK does not apply (not a wrongful denial):

• Delivery or treatment was in a private hospital or nursing home by the family's own choice. JSSK funds public facilities directly; it cannot be claimed back for a private bill after the fact.
• The patient is not in the maternal, newborn or infant window. An adult with an unrelated illness, or an infant already past 1 year of age, falls outside JSSK regardless of income or hardship.
• The woman was never under care of the public system for that pregnancy at all, for example she registered and did all antenatal visits privately and only walked into a government facility for an unrelated emergency; the facility may treat this as a fresh admission rather than a continuing JSSK case, though it should still not charge for care given at that visit.

Wrongful denials that should be escalated, not accepted:

• "This test/medicine is not available here, go and buy it." JSSK requires the facility to arrange it free through referral or tie-up, not to pass the cost to the family. Being out of stock is not a valid reason to charge.
• "You are not registered with us, so this does not apply." Registration with a specific facility is not a precondition for JSSK; a woman in labour or a sick infant is entitled at whichever government facility she reaches.
• Demanding payment before starting treatment, sometimes as an informal "security" that is meant to be refunded later, or as a facilitation charge for staff. Any advance payment demand for a JSSK-covered service is itself the denial, refund or no refund.
• Discharging the mother early to avoid providing the full 3 or 7 days of free diet. Medical discharge should be based on the mother and baby's condition, not on cutting short the diet entitlement.
• Refusing free drop-back transport by claiming the ambulance is only for emergencies. Drop-back home after a normal JSSK delivery is a standard entitlement, not an emergency service.

In every wrongful-denial case, the fix is the same: do not pay, ask for the refusal in writing or note down who said it and when, and escalate through the Medical Officer, then the Civil Surgeon, then the 104 helpline, since a documented refusal is what turns a verbal denial into an actionable complaint.