Andhra government set for special pension scheme implementation
VIJAYAWADA: The state government is gearing up for the implementation of the special pension scheme, as per the recommendation made by the State-appointed expert health committee, led by Dr K Sujatha Rao.
Under AP Vaidya Vidhana Parishad (APVVP), another departmental committee was formed to study the implementation of special pensions in detail, which will submit its report in the next two to three days.
This committee will also study the number of recipients for the scheme, which was estimated to be between 1 and 1.5 lakh.
Currently, the state government is offering Rs 10,000 every month as pension for patients suffering with chronic ailments. As many as 11,953 patients diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are getting Rs 10,000 every month, for which the State is bearing the expense of Rs 11.95 crore.
In addition to this, the expert committee has recommended a few other ailments, for which the patients should be given a pension of Rs 5,000 every month.
Speaking to TNIE, APVVP Commissioner Dr P Durga Prasad Rao, said, “As per the recommendation made by the expert committee regarding the implementation of pensions, the government is likely to implement it at the earliest.
We will submit the report in 2-3 days. There can be a huge expenditure towards this pension scheme, as we are expecting that there would be around 1.5 lakh such cases.”
According to the sources, officials are going to include aliments such as multi-deformity leprosy, both lower and upper limb amputation, congenital HIV patients (children), HIV patients having multiple organ failure, palliative cancer, total blindness and patients, who are completely bedridden for any reason including accidents.