Mamata Banerjee Withdraws West Bengal From Ayushman Bharat Yojna
Mamata Banerjee said her government will not contribute to the healthcare scheme.
Kolkata, January 10: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday announced not to support the Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission, touted as Modicare by the Centre. Mamata Banerjee said her government will not contribute to the healthcare scheme. "My state will not contribute 40 per cent of the funds for the Ayushman scheme. Centre has to pay the full amount if it wants to run the scheme," she said.
In July last, the state government had signed an MoU with the National Health Agency for implementing the health insurance scheme in the state, following a long-drawn negotiation. The National Health Agency (NHA) is the apex body for the implementation of the insurance scheme. Through the Modicare, the central government aims to provide coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family annually to more than 10 crore poor households. Modi Government Denies Reports That Rajasthan, Maharashtra 'Reluctant' to Implement Ayushman Bharat Scheme.
Odisha has already refused to implement the Centre's flagship health programme, saying it already has a scheme called Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana with more beneficiaries compared to the AB-NHPS. Besides, Delhi and Punjab governments have not yet given any response towards adopting the programme.
The Centre is carrying out beneficiary identification process based on the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data, and 80 per cent of beneficiaries in rural areas and 60 per cent in the urban areas, have been identified. Announced in the 2018-19 Budget, the AB-NHPM is being touted as the 'world’s largest government-funded health care scheme'.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 10, 2019 05:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).