Increase of Financial Assistance under the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN)

To further ease access to financial assistance under Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN), the Government has decided to enhance the financial powers delegated to designated Central Government hospitals/institutes from Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh for providing financial assistance in cases where emergency surgery is to be conducted.

The RAN was set up in 1997 to provide financial assistance to patients, living below poverty line prescribed from time to time and who are suffering from major life threatening diseases related to heart, liver, kidney and cancer cases, etc., to receive medical treatment at any of the super specialty Government hospitals / institutes or other Government hospitals. Revolving Funds have been set up in 12 Central Government hospitals/institutes and amount up to Rs. 50 lakh is placed at their disposal for providing financial assistance. Details are available in the website of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Accordingly only cases for financial assistance beyond Rs. 5 lakh would now be required to be referred to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

For patients suffering from life threatening diseases, where time is a premium, this would facilitate commencement of treatment of poor patients found prima facie eligible for assistance under the Scheme by these hospitals/institutions. This would also enable to curtail the procedural delay for treatment, which would bring relief to thousands of patients annually.

The Government also provides financial assistance through the Health Minister's Cancer Patient Fund (HMCPF) set up for providing financial assistance to the poor patients suffering from cancer having treatment in 27 Regional Cancer Centres (RCC). Financial assistance is also available under the Health Minister's Discretionary Grant (HMDG) to patients having family annual income up to Rs.1,00,000/- and below to defray a part of the expenditure on hospitalization/treatment in Government Hospitals, in cases where free medical facilities are not available.

These Schemes have benefitted 37063 poor patients so far.

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