ISKCON monks get Swasthya Sathi cards

KOLKATA: Nadia district administration distributed Swasthya Sathi cards among the monks, Bramhacharins and devotees of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) at Mayapur, the world headquarters of the organisation.

Apart from the monks and bramhacharins, the employees of ISKCON and local villagers also got the card. Though the Swasthya card is issued in the name of the senior most woman member of the family, it was issued in the names of the monks and bramhacharins who abstain from getting married. From now, they will be able to avail the facility of the card.

Madhava Gouranga Das, director of ISKCON, thanked the state government for the initiative. A communiqué by the state government stated that more than 2 crore families have enrolled for Swasthya Sathi scheme till date.

A total of 1537 private hospitals have been included in the scheme along with the state-run hospitals.

The total number of beds available under the scheme will be 57,305. A total of Rs 1773 crore has been spent under the scheme so far.

Following the recommendations of a committee of experts headed by the Director of Medical Education, rates of 33 commonly used packages under 5 disciplines of general medicine, general surgery, cardio thoracic, endoscopic procedures, obstetrics and gynaecology will be increased by 10 to 20 per cent. This will lead to an additional expense of more than Rs 200 crore annually under the scheme.