THE STATE Government would cover all the poor people under Deendayal Antyodaya Upchar Yojana, irrespective of the caste and the community to which they belong.
Besides, all the five medical colleges in the state would have their facilities upgraded substantially and linked with one another for telemedicine network in the coming times.
The Minister for Public Health, Family Welfare and Medical Education Ajay Vishnoi announced this in the State Assembly while speaking on demand of grants for his departments. The demand of grants was passed with voice vote.
Vishnoi, who spoke for over an hour and 10 minutes, said that so far the scheme was meant for the SC/ST people under which they could avail medical treatment up to Rs 20,000. The government had distributed 20 lakh cards among such beneficiaries. Now, all the poor families would be covered under the scheme, irrespective of their caste and the community to which they belong. Thus about two crore people in 40 lakh families would benefit under the scheme.
He said if the medicines were not available in the hospitals, the hospital management would purchase the medicines from the market to provide it to the needy.
Though the limit of treatment would be up to Rs 20000 it did not mean that the poor could not get further treatment if they did not have money. They were free to apply for financial assistance under Rajya Bimari Sahayata Nidhi, which covered as many as 13 serious diseases and offered financial assistance up to Rs 1.5 lakh per head. A sum of Rs five crore had been allocated in the budget for the same.
{{/usCountry}}Though the limit of treatment would be up to Rs 20000 it did not mean that the poor could not get further treatment if they did not have money. They were free to apply for financial assistance under Rajya Bimari Sahayata Nidhi, which covered as many as 13 serious diseases and offered financial assistance up to Rs 1.5 lakh per head. A sum of Rs five crore had been allocated in the budget for the same.
{{/usCountry}}He said that with a view to bring down infant and maternal mortality rates, the government provided incentives to the people for delivery in the hospitals. Under the scheme, Rs 300 is given to the woman and Rs 200 to the motivator.
About 81000 women have already benefited from the scheme. The minister said that the scheme even inspired the Central Government to launch a similar scheme. However, their scheme had certain flaws in it, hence the beneficiaries under the Central scheme was 23000 women only.
Vishnoi said that the government had earmarked Rs 17.5 crore for construction of sub-health centres buildings in rural areas. Rs 42.5 crore had been sanctioned for construction of 431 primary health centre buildings. Rs 18 crore had been allocated for construction of 150 community health centres.
He said while 314 posts for doctors had been created about 1000 staff nurses would also be recruited to strengthen the medical facilities in rural areas. Rs 183.31 crore had been allocated for availability of life saving drugs and basic facilities at the rural hospitals. Rs 122.86 had been earmarked for upgradation and strengthening of urban health centres.
The minister further said that besides providing advanced equipment to the five medical colleges, these colleges would be linked for tele-medicine network. They would also be linked to super specialty hospitals in Delhi and other major centres in the country.