Cuttack: Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda today launched Modi government’s ambitious Ayushman Bharat Yojana here at a special programme.
Shri Nadda also launched the Ayushman Vaya-Vandana Yojana, and the state-run Gopabandhu Jan Arogya Yojana (GJAY) in presence of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Deputy Chief Ministers K V Singh Deo and Pravati Parida, Health Minister Mukesh Mahaling and several MPs and MLAs at Bali Yatra ground.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi led NDA government’s ambitious Ayushman Bharat scheme was implemented in Odisha — six years after it was implemented by the Centre and other states.
The previous BJD government had refrained from adopting the scheme, allegedly due to political considerations.
Addressing this occasion, Shri Nadda said, “There were only three states – Odisha, Delhi and West Bengal – where the Ayushman Bharat scheme was not implemented. However, the scheme came into operation in Odisha and Delhi after the change of government in these States.”
The people of Bengal will also get the facility and the BJP is committed to provide this health scheme to all the citizens of India, he said.
Shri Nadda claimed that the state governments which put hurdles before implementation of the Narendra Modi government’s welfare schemes have paid a price. “The people have rejected the governments in Odisha and also in Delhi,” he said.
The BJP in February returned to power in Delhi after more than 26 years defeating the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party with a two-thirds majority.
Shri Nadda recalled how he, as a Union Health Minister, had appealed to both Naveen Patnaik and Aravind Kejriwal, erstwhile CMs of Odisha and Delhi respectively, to implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme but got rejected.
“We have requested Naveen Babu several times, but he claimed that his BJD government’s health scheme was better than Ayushman Bharat. Similar was the case of Kejriwal,” he said.
Chief Minister Shri Majhi said his government has been giving emphasis to the medical sector and taking all steps to strengthen the infrastructure and filling up the vacant doctor and other medical posts.
Dr.Mahaling said today will be mentioned in golden letters in the history of Odisha as the ambitious Ayushman Bharat has been launched.
“In our manifesto, we had promised to implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme within one year after forming the government in Odisha and now it has been fulfilled,” he said.
He said the central scheme was launched in 2018, but the previous BJD government did not implement it. Due to this, the state lost around Rs 3,000 crore central funds in the last six years.
Now, around 3.5 crore people of the state are expected to benefit from these health insurance schemes. Every beneficiary will get one health card each while earlier one card was provided to each family, Mahaling said.
The beneficiaries will get free cash-less treatment in 29,000 registered private and government hospitals across the country.
In addition, the central scheme ‘Ayushman Vaya-Vandana Yojana’ has also been implemented in Odisha for all persons aged 70 years and above, irrespective of their economic status, the health minister said.
Senior Ministers including Revenue Minister Suresh Pujari, Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan and Panchayati Raj Minister Rabi Narayan Naik have launched the schemes at 12 different districts of Odisha.
About 1405 primary healthcare centres (PHCs) and community health centres (CHCs) joined the programme through video conferencing.