Swasthya Sathi helps man to undergo surgery free-of-cost at Vellore

Kolkata: A 47-year-old resident of New Barrackpore in North 24-Parganas, Bikash Chandra Mondal, is set to undergo a surgery at Vellore free of cost under the Swasthya Sathi scheme.

People from Bengal can now avail treatment in Vellore and All India Medical Sciences in Delhi under the unique health scheme of the State government that has already been transformed into universal health coverage. The flagship health scheme introduced by the Mamata Banerjee government has been a game changer for the people of the state, who could not afford treatment at top private hospitals. Now, all the private hospitals have been asked to treat patients in every discipline under the Swasthya Sathi scheme.

Mondal met with a road accident a couple of months ago when his ankle was badly fractured.

He was admitted to a private hospital in the city. The victim was treated there but no major improvement had taken place.

The private hospital had charged the patient Rs 5 lakh. Mondal is the only bread earner in the family. He has his wife and a daughter. After spending all the money the family had, they found themselves in difficulty.

The patient's wife, Anamika Mondal, decided to take him to Vellore with whatever funds she had. The patient was finally taken to Vellore, where the doctors told the patients' wife that they could afford treatment with a Swasthya Sathi card.

The wife returned to New Barrackpore, leaving her husband at Vellore and sought help from the local administration and the administrator of the New Barrackpore Municipality,Tripti Majumdar.

The municipality authorities immediately contacted the District Magistrate (DM) office. The employees of the DM office and the health workers of the district went to Mondal's house and captured photos and prepared the card on war footing. The family of the patient expressed their gratitude to the Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee for the health scheme.