New Delhi: Central ruling party BJP is building up pressure on BJD government in Odisha for implementation of Aushman Bharat Yojana in the State.
At least 12 MPs of BJP in Odisha have urged the chief minister Naveen Patnaik for introduction of the Central health care scheme in the State.
” We urge the government of Odisha to join and implement Ayushman Bharat —Pradhan Mantri Jan ArogyaYojana (AB-PMJAY) scheme in the interest of people of Odisha”, they have stated in a letter written to the chief minister.
The scheme seeks to cover 50 crore beneficiaries in the country, including over 60 lakh beneficiaries in Odisha. “We would like to reiterate that the AB- PMJAY scheme is targeted at the most vulnerable sections of society, consolidating efforts of the State and the union for an overhaul of India’s healthcare landscape.”
Under the AB-PMJAY the beneficiary would get a healthcare cover of Rs.5 lakh per family.
The State government, in fact, has launched Biju Swastya Kalyan Yojana(BSKY) which is an universal healthcare scheme covering all the APL & BPL families. It provided cover of Rs 7 lakh for women and Rs 5 lakh male persons of the family.
There is a tussle going on between the State and Centre over the implementation of AB-PMJAY in Odisha. The State is claiming that the BSKY is a better healthcare scheme than the AB-PMJAY and hence there is no need for implementing the Central scheme in the State. However, recently a truce has been worked out with the mediating of Niti Aayog memeber and the State has in principle agreed to have the AB-PMJAY with the BSKY as an add on to it.
BJP union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Pratap Sarangi, former minister Jual Oram, MPs Basanta Panda, Aparajita Sarangi, Sangeeta Singhdeo, Nitish Gangdeb, Aswini Vaisnav, Suresh Pujhari, Bishwashar Tudu and two nominated MPs Sonal Mansingh and Raghunath Mohapatra have signed the letter.
