Odisha’s scheme far better than Centre’s, says Naveen Patnaik

Bhubaneswar: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik and Union petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan were on Wednesday caught in a bitter war of words over rejection of the Union government’s Ayushman Bharat Yojana by the state government.

A day after Mr Pradhan accused the Naveen Patnaik for rejecting the Central healthcare scheme purely  due to political considerations “depriving” millions of Odias, the CM Mr Patnaik on Wednesday said his state’s Biju Swastya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) was better than the Ayushman Bharat. He said both Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line (APL) people will get the benefits under the scheme.

Speaking at a public meeting held on the sidelines of a Padayatra organised by the party in Bhubaneswar-North constituency here, the CM said, “Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana is a historic step since both BPL and APL persons will get the health benefits under the scheme. It is way better than Ayushman Bharat.”

Challenging the Centre’s scheme, the CM further questioned as to whether any disease sees poor or rich before affecting a person? And, what people not belonging to BPL category will do then?, he questioned.

“The State Government is there for people of both BPL and APL categories,” he added. Replying to the CM’s observations, the Union minister Mr Pradhan said the CM was misleading the people Odisha by giving false advertisement about the benefits of the scheme.

“Dear chief minister, when your government has not published the guidelines of the BSKY and initiated tender process, you are making some false claims over implementation of the scheme and the number of people benefitted by it,” Mr Pradhan said in Twitter post.

He also questioned as to how the hospitals in other states would identify the Odias working there.

“By rejecting Ayushman Bharat Yojana, Odia people working in other states have been denied the opportunity of healthcare in those places. The BJD claims that the BSKY would extend this facility to the registered beneficiaries. The moot question is that – which hospitals in which states have been enrolled to extend healthcare services to the beneficiaries?” asked Mr Pradhan.