Odisha not to join Centre's Ayushman Bharat programme:Minister

The Odisha government would not implement the Centre's Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission in the state since it is about to launch a similar scheme on its own shortly, a minister today said.

"There is no need to join the central government's Ayushman Bharat programme after launching state's own health assurance scheme," Health & Family Welfare Minister Pratap Jena said.

He said that Odisha's Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana would be implemented from August 15 this year.

He said while the Centres Ayushman Bharat programme was meant for 61 lakh families of Odisha, the state's own Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana will cover 70 lakh families.

Around 3.5 crore people will get health benefit up to Rs 5 lakh per family under the state scheme, he said.

"Keeping in view the interests of the people of our state, we are going to implement the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana," Jena said, adding that the healthcare scheme of the state government is better than that of the Centre.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had on Tuesday announced the health assurance scheme of the state. Under the programme, a family would get up to Rs 5 lakh per annum to meet healthcare expenditure at all government-run hospitals and the entire cost would be borne by the state government.