Odisha agrees to examine Ayushman Bharat scheme

The Odisha government on Tuesday said it would examine the fresh proposal of the Centre to implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme in the state.

A delegation, led by Ayushman Bharat CEO Indu Bhushan, had a discussion with Odisha Health Minister Naba Kishore Das and Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi on the implementation of the scheme.

"The Centre has given a proposal to us and we are examining it. If we find that the people of Odisha will get any benefit from the Ayushman Bharat scheme, we will be taking a decision," said Das.

"We will examine (the proposal) and see whether it works well with our existing health scheme," he said.

But for Odisha, Telengana, West Bengal and Delhi, 25 states have implemented the Ayushman Bharat scheme.

"We had a preliminary discussion about the scheme and the Odisha government's Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY). We could reach a conclusive point after 2-3 rounds of discussion," said Padhi.

"The state already has a good and strong scheme. Our challenge is to converge the Ayushman Bharat scheme with the existing state scheme (BSKY). We will make all efforts to do that," said Bhushan.

The BSKY envisages health benefits to 70 lakh poor families -- up to Rs 5 lakh for men and Rs 7 lakh for women. The Ayushman Bharat scheme has provision of health benefits up to Rs 5 lakh and no special provision for women beneficiaries.

Earlier, the state government had rejected the Centre's proposal, citing it's own health assurance scheme, which is much better than the central scheme.

--IANS

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