Union Petroleum and Skill Development Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday said the State Government should not deprive people of Odisha of getting health services by opposing the Central Government’s Ayushman Bharat Yojana.
“After the Union Government took an in-principle decision to provide universal healthcare to people of the country in March 2017, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the Ayushman Bharat Yojana in the 2018 Budget. This yojana is the biggest of its kind in the world. However, BJD leaders and the Chief Minister Patnaik have opposed the scheme by saying availability of compensation will be delayed as the scheme is insurance-based,” said Pradhan.
‘State shouldn’t oppose Aayushman Bharat’
However, he said the Chief Minister should go through the write-up of Odisha Government’s Healthcare Chief Advisor K Srinath Reddy who has praised the Prime Minister for making the Ayushman Bharat as assurance-based not insurance-based.
Regarding the number of beneficiaries listed up in the Ayushsman Bharat Yojana, Pradhan said 61 lakh families have been listed up on the basis of SECC record. He wanted to know on which basis the State Government has prepared a list to provide health services to 70 lakh families.
Stating that people would get free-of-cost treatment under the scheme, he said “If the Odisha Government backtracks from the Ayushman Bharat scheme, people migrating outside in search of work will suffer a lot. It may not be deeded by BJD leaders but they should not deprive poor people of health benefits provided by the Union Govenemnt,” he said.
He slammed the State Government for dearth of doctors in Government hospitals. “Where there were 10.6 doctors per one lakh people in Odisha dn 2009-10, the number came down to 8.4 in 2014-15,” he taunted.