Mamata says in Bengal, there was already a health scheme, Swastha Sathi, under which people are given free treatment in case of a medical emergency
Addressing a public rally at Krishnanagar in West Bengal’s Nadia district on Tuesday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the state government would not partake in the Cenre’s National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS), which was announced by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley during the Budget this year.
Mocking the scheme as ‘Modicare’, Mamata said, “There had been deaths of about 12,000 farmers in the country and Maharashtra tops the list among the states. Now the Centre is talking about welfare of farmers. They have announced health schemes for them but have no money to fund those. They want the state to contribute 40% of the scheme. Why should we? It was not discussed with the states before implementation. They need to learn a thing or two from Bengal. We have been giving people free health services for a long time.”
She also added that the state was cash-strapped. “As it is, the Centre takes away Rs 40,000 crore from the state and we have to do with whatever little is left. Inspite of that, we had been trying to make best use of the resources,” she said.
Jaitley, while tabling the Budget this year, said it would be the world’s largest health insurance scheme benefiting 500 million people in India.
Mamata said in Bengal, there was already a health scheme, Swastha Sathi, under which people are given free treatment in case of a medical emergency.
It was found out that NHPS was likely to incur an expense of over Rs 100 billion and the Centre would be contributing 60% of the required fund while the state would provide 40%.
Drawing a comparison between the state’s Kanyashree and the Centre’s ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ scheme, she said, “The Centre has allotted Rs 100 crore for the entire country whereas we have spent Rs 5,000 crore in Kanyashree.”
CASH-STRAPPED
- The chief minister said the state already had its own healthcare scheme. She added that the state was cash-strapped. “Inspite of that, we tried to make the best use of the resources,” she said.
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