Interview Times CM Naveen Patnaik launched the smart health cards under the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana in Malkangiri, on Friday. It is an initiative that could change the condition of the healthcare system in the state. It’s for the first time and a one-of-a-kind healthcare service in the entire country proposed by CM Naveen Patnaik, which will become effective from September 1, 2021.
In order to mark that his government stands with the underprivileged and the tribals, CM Patnaik handed over the first smart health card to a member of the Bonda tribal community named Sukri Dhangda Majhi.
Bondas; are one of the oldest tribal groups of the state with around 12,000 members of the community residing in the hill pockets of the Malkangiri district.
“The smart health card will decrease your burden for the treatment on health. The state government is spending money on your health. So money to be spent towards the treatment of health could be saved and it could be utilized for the studies of your children and improvement of the economic condition of the families.” Naveen Patnaik said, on the occasion at Malkangiri.
On the auspicious occasion of Independence Day, he announced the smart health card move on. Under the scheme, each male member of a family of an economically weaker section of the society is assured to get insurance up to Rs 5 lakh and woman up to Rs 10 lakh per annum.
According to the announcement, about 96 Lakh families over a population of 3.5 crores will be availing the benefit of smart health cards.
Moreover, Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Education Minister has urged CM to also implement Ayushman Bharat Yojana in Odisha. The state has so far declined to accept that its health scheme is better than the central scheme.
When Bhartiya Janata Party has started the first day of their Jan Ashriwad Yatra in Odisha with Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav, Dharmendra Pradhan, and many more ministers and workers, then only CM Naveen Patnaik has taken this appreciable step and launched the health scheme.
However, the launch of CM Naveen’s Smart Health Card Scheme has triggered a Cold War of speeches within in the social media platforms of the BJP and the BJD Leaders and followers.
BJD’s most effective MLA Pranab Prakash Das, a series of tweets, compared the two schemes displaying that Centre’s scheme is an insurance scheme whereas the Odisha government’s scheme is an assurance scheme and it’s much better than the Ayushman Bharat Yojana. “There are no specific benefits for women under the central scheme. But in our scheme, there is a provision for Rs 10 lakh per annum for women members of the family enrolled under the BSKY.”
The Odisha government says BSKY is available in more than 200 hospitals in the country including private hospitals. With this smart health card, public can avail themselves a range of benefits, including the treatment of cancer and dialysis.
Meanwhile, Congress has demanded that everyone should be included in the BSKY.
