BHUBANESWAR: After launching the smart health card scheme under Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) to earn brownie points with the voters ahead of the panchayat elections next year, the BJD on Friday, August 20, 2021, claimed that the BJP will recast the Ayushman Bharat in line with the State scheme.
Taking a swipe at Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for repeatedly requesting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for implementation of the Ayushman Bharat Yojana in Odisha, BJD leader and MLA Pranab Prakash Das said the BSKY scheme is far better than the Central scheme.
Claiming that the BJP-led NDA government at Centre is replicating many welfare schemes of Odisha like Mamata and KALIA (Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana and PM Kisan Nidhi), Das in a series of tweets said, “I am sure you will follow it soon.”
Drawing a comparison between the State and Central health coverage schemes, the BJD MLA said that there are no benefits for women under the Central scheme while BSKY provides a special coverage of Rs10 lakh per annum for women enrolled under it.
While BSKY card holders can avail treatment in big corporate hospitals like Apollo and Fortis, Ayushman Bharat has no such facility. Only 60 lakh beneficiaries of Odisha can be covered under Ayushman Bharat while BSKY covers over 96 lakh families. Similarly, Ayushman Bharat is providing a health cover of `5 lakh per family per annum at government hospitals while BSKY has unlimited coverage at such hospitals, he tweeted.
Above all, Das said, Ayushman Bharat is an insurance scheme while BSKY is an assurance for complete healthcare. The MLA’s caustic remarks came in response to Pradhan’s statements on Thursday to media on the refusal of the State government to implement the Central scheme.
The Union Minister said that the migrant population of Odisha would have got access to quality healthcare in the states they are living in if the Odisha government had implemented the Ayushman Bharat scheme in the State. BJP MP Basanta Panda criticised Das for tweeting against Ayushman Bharat without even knowing facts about the Central scheme.