Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday virtually gave the Right to Health facilities to the people of the State as he distributed CHIRAYU cards to the eligible beneficiaries under the scheme of the state government.

While virtually inaugurating CHIARYU card distribution programme here, he  said that under this scheme, free treatment facility up to Rs 5 lakh will be provided to eligible beneficiaries on the lines of the Ayushman Bharat scheme. He said that the scheme was launched from Manesar on November 21 and in less than a month, more than 2000 people have availed of the scheme benefits.

He said that on Saturday the programme of distribution of CHIRAYU cards was done at about 2000 places, in which these cards were distributed to about 5 lakh families. Persons With Disabilities (PwDs) would also be covered under this scheme, he added.

The Chief Minister said that a target has been set to distribute Chirayu cards to all 1.25 crore eligible beneficiaries by December 31. Even today, cards are being distributed by setting up camps at 2,000 locations. Similarly, in the future too, cards will be distributed by setting up such camps in all the villages and cities, he added.

The scheme is completely cashless, paperless, transparent, digital, and IT-driven, which provides free treatment as per PMJAY guidelines in a total of 729 public and empaneled private hospitals across Haryana. The needy only have to go to the hospital and show their PPP ID to avail of the treatment facility.

Khattar said that the Central Government announced Ayushman Bharat Yojana in the year 2018, the objective of which was to provide health facilities to the needy and deprived in the country. The income limit of the eligible beneficiaries under this scheme was Rs 1.20 lakh per annum, he added. In Haryana also as per the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) data of the year 2011 and as per the criteria of the central government, about 15.50 lakh families were identified in Haryana, in which More than 9 lakh families were getting the benefits of the Ayushman Bharat Yojana scheme. But to provide the benefits of Ayushman Bharat Yojana to more poor and needy families, the state government increased the annual income limit of BPL families from Rs 1.20 lakh to Rs 1.80 lakh.

The Chief Minister said that apart from the families included in the SECC list in the state, CHIRAYU Haryana Yojana has been started only to give benefits of Ayushman Bharat Yojana to all Antyodaya families whose annual income is up to Rs 1.80 lakh. The treatment expenditure of up to Rs 5 lakh of the families to be included in this scheme will be borne by the state government, he said, adding that Haryana is better than other states in terms of providing health facilities.

He said that under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, the first beneficiary across the country was also from Haryana. Not only this, but Haryana was also the first state to link Ayushman Yojana with an Aadhaar card. Khattar He said only 20,000 to 25,000 people were able to take advantage of Ayushman Bharat Yojana, but after receiving the CHIRAYU cards 60 to 70 thousand citizens are expected to take advantage of this scheme every month.

Khattar said that till now claims of Rs 150 to 200 crore were being given under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, but under the CHIRAYU Haryana scheme, the state government has kept a budget of Rs 500 crore, adding that at present, treatment of 1500 types of diseases is being provided in the empaneled hospitals under the Ayushman Bharat scheme. The Haryana government intends to provide treatment for these diseases in all government hospitals of the state. For this, ICU arrangements are being made in the hospitals which do not have ICUs, and specialist doctors will also be deployed, he added.

The Chief Minister said that the state government has announced its plan of opening a medical college in every district, under which at present colleges have either been built or are under construction in many districts. He said that at present 1800 MBBS doctors are enrolled in the state, but after setting up one college in every district, more than 3000 doctors will be passing out from these colleges, due to which the shortage of doctors will be filled.

He said that as per the World Health Organisation, there should be one doctor per 1000 population. Thus there is a requirement of about 28,000 doctors in Haryana and presently there are 13,000 doctors. That's why we have also appealed to new doctors to spend 5 years in government services so that common people can get the benefit of health facilities, he added.

 The Chief Minister said that when a person is ill, he gets the benefit of health facilities under Ayushman Bharat or CHIRAYU Yojana, but the state government is trying to ensure that the person remains healthy and does not fall ill. For this, the Nirogi Haryana Yojana was recently launched by the President of India,  Droupadi Murmu from Kurukshetra.  Under this, a health survey of all Antyodaya families will be done in the first phase so that any kind of health ailments can be diagnosed at an early stage only.  Health survey cards for 50,000 people have been made under the Nirogi Haryana Yojana. At present, the survey is being conducted at 32 centres. This type of facility will be started at 2000 centres in the coming time, he added.