Kolkata: The Centre has now stopped providing funds for the ‘Sishu Sathi’ scheme prompting the Mamata Banerjee government to allot emergency funds of around Rs 300 crore to run the scheme that entitles children to undergo critical heart surgeries free of cost.
Recently the Narendra Modi government had stopped funds under Suswasthya Kendras.
State health department has been considering the idea of merging the Sishu Sathi scheme with Swasthya Sathi so that no children are deprived. An expert committee has submitted its recommendation in this regard. Sources said that the State health department had written to the Centre to clear funds for running Sishu Sathi. But the Centre has categorically said that the name of the scheme ‘Sishu Sathi’ should be changed to ‘Rashtriya Bal Suraksha Karyakram’.
Thousands of children undergo critical heart surgeries one year at free of cost both at government-run and private hospitals under the ‘Sishu Sathi’ scheme, a brain child of the Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. According to government sources, this scheme has brought down the infant mortality rate in the past one year. After coming to power, Banerjee had taken several initiatives to improve health infrastructure in all the state run hospitals and announced various new schemes. The state government introduced Sishu Sathi in August 2013, under which children till the age of twelve with congenital heart defects are treated free of cost at all governmental hospitals that have paediatric facilities and some other private hospitals.
Under this scheme, the operation is free and the state health department bears the entire expenses of the project. After the introduction of the scheme, thousands of patients from rural areas have benefitted immensely.
All government hospitals, including the SSKM Hospital and some other private hospitals, have been performing heart surgeries under the scheme regularly.