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Kolkata, Nov 3 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said the number of hospitalizations under the state government’s own health insurance scheme “Swasthya Sathi” crossed the one crore mark on October 31.
In a social media post, Banerjee also said that till that date, cashless health care benefits worth Rs 13,156 crore have been provided to the citizens of West Bengal, entirely from the state budget.
“Any resident of West Bengal is eligible to avail the benefits of ‘Swasthya Sathi’ if he/she is not covered under any other state sponsored scheme. More than 8.5 crore residents of West Bengal are covered under the scheme,” he said in his post.
According to him, a robust IT platform and timely payments to hospital partners have ensured fast and reliable service delivery to its beneficiaries. “The West Bengal government is always with you in your difficult times,” the Chief Minister said.
His claims come at a time when the West Bengal government is facing constant criticism for not allowing the implementation of the national health insurance scheme, “Ayushman Bharat”, by promoting only “Swasthya Sathi”.
The BJP leader was highlighting the main drawback of “Swasthya Sathi”, under the scheme health insurance is provided only if the hospitalization occurs within the territory of West Bengal.
At the same time, since the “Swasthya Sathi” scheme was launched, there have been several cases of private hospitals or nursing homes refusing to honor the scheme. In many cases in the past, the state health department had issued warnings to such private hospitals or nursing homes.
Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing political rallies in West Bengal on several occasions in the past, had criticized the state government for not allowing the implementation of the “Ayushman Bharat” scheme in the state.
On the other hand, the ruling Trinamool Congress had argued that any citizen of West Bengal can avail the benefits of the “Swasthya Sathi” scheme without any pre-condition of financial background, unlike the “Ayushman Bharat” scheme which had certain pre-conditions.
–IANS
Source/VD