BJP-led Tripura govt following Bengal’s footsteps by introducing its health scheme: Trinamool

Kolkata: The BJP-led government in Tripura has followed Bengal’s footsteps by introducing its own health scheme despite having the Centre’s health scheme Ayushman Bharat.

Reacting to the incident, senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Chandrima Bhattacharya said the Tripura government is now introducing their own health scheme like what the Mamata Banerjee government did earlier.

“The Bengal government under the leadership of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee introduced the state’s health scheme, Swasthya Sathi. There is no discrimination among people when it comes to Swasthya Sathi. All are covered under the state health scheme. Swasthya Sathi cards are issued against women members of the family. The Tripura government is now following Mamata’s footsteps. We did not implement the Centre’s Ayushman scheme as it is not all inclusive,” she said.

Incidentally, the BJP-led Tripura government launched the Chief Minister’s Jan Arogya Yojana (CM-JAY) on Thursday. Under this scheme, each beneficiary would get annual health insurance coverage up to Rs 5 lakh. “Many people who are not covered under the Ayushman Bharat scheme came to me to request financial assistance. This made me think about introducing an alternative scheme…” Chief Minister Manik Saha said at the launch program in Agartala.

The Ayushman Bharat scheme was started in Tripura on September 23, 2018. According to data, nearly 6.2 crore patients were given financial assistance of over Rs 79.057 crore till January 12 this year. Out of an estimated 9.75 lakh families living in the state, 5.12 lakh families were enlisted for the scheme.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on repeated occasions said that there was no point in allowing Ayushman Bharat as all the not covered by the scheme. The Chief Minister had also said that 40 per cent of the cost is borne by the state government for running the Ayushman Bharat.