Delhi govt free healthcare schemes benefit 1.42 lakh in past two and half years: Jain

The Delhi government on Friday said that it had provided free tests and surgery facilities to around 1.42 lakh people in the last two and a half years.

The figures were of the three schemes announced by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in 2017 and they were released by Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday.

High-end diagnostics and surgeries are provided free of cost at Delhi hospitals, besides treatment of victims of accidents, acid attacks and burn injuries, he said in a statement.

The schemes were announced under the Delhi Arogya Kosh (DAK) with the aim to universalise free, efficient and quality healthcare for all.

"We want to provide free and quality healthcare to all, and are making avenues to reduce the burden on government hospitals while simultaneously ensuring timely treatment for patients," the health minister said.

By the end of June this year, a total of 1,34,609 patients had benefitted from the scheme for free diagnostics facilities like MRI, CT, PET CT, Nuclear, USG and Doppler, Mammography, at 23 empanelled private labs, he said.

Also, 4,654 patients received cardiac, urinary, general, eye and ENT surgeries, and lap-cholecystectomy among other treatments, he stated.

Further, 2,938 road accident victims and one acid attack victim were treated cashlessly from February 15, 2018 till June 30, 2019, Jain said.

The Delhi government bears the cost of treatment under many multi-speciality hospitals in the city, he added.