BJP President Amit Shah on Monday tweeted out saying that the Telangana government has denied its people the benefits of the Ayushman Bharath Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Shah said the scheme was not being implemented to serve Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government's selfish interests.
KT Rama Rao, the caretaker minister for IT, responded to the BJP president’s tweet by calling the state's Arogya Sri program better than the central scheme.
In Amit Shah's first tweet in Telugu, he called upon people of the state to question the TRS government for denying them the benefits of the Ayushman Bharath scheme launched by the PM on Sunday.
In his tweet, Shah said, “Ayushman Bharat scheme brought by Mr Modi is considered the biggest and greatest initiative in the healthcare sector in the world. It is unfortunate that the Telangana government is not willing to come forward to implement this scheme and denying the benefit of this noble scheme to people in Telangana.”
ప్రధానమంత్రి మోదీ గారిచే ప్రారంభించబడిన "జన ఆరోగ్య యోజన- ఆయుష్మాన్ భారత్" కార్యక్రమం ప్రపంచంలోనే చాలా గొప్పది. అలాంటి కార్యక్రమాన్ని తెలంగాణ ప్రజలకు అందకుండా తెలంగాణ ప్రభుత్వం వ్యవహరించడం బాధాకరం. pic.twitter.com/e10QOhcpkm
— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) September 24, 2018
He further added that “Due to the selfish interests of the TRS government, the poor and needy in Telangana are losing out in availing the benefits of such a good scheme. The Telangana government should answer the people for this. BJP activists should fight against the anti-people decision taken by the TRS government. They should also take up door-to-door campaign to create awareness among the people on this issue.”
Responding to the BJP president's tweet, the caretaker minister for IT, KT Ramarao tweeted saying that Shah has been misinformed. "You’re clearly misinformed Amit Shah Ji. The successful Arogya Sri program of Telangana is far superior in terms of coverage (80 lakh families) in comparison to Ayushman Bharat (only 25 lakh families in Telangana). We are a role model state in Universal health coverage".
You’re clearly misinformed @AmitShah Ji. The successful Arogya Sri program of Telangana is far superior in terms of coverage (80 lakh families) in comparison to Ayushman Bharat (only 25 lakh families in Telangana)
— KTR (@KTRTRS) September 24, 2018
We are a role model state in Universal health coverage https://t.co/Dv3LtKgpOD
The Telangana government has the Aarogyasri Health Scheme that provides Rs 2 lakh cover per year to families below poverty line and gets extended to Rs 13 lakhs on a case to case basis. The Ayushman Bharat scheme of the Centre provides a cover of Rs 5 lakh per family annually.
“Telangana government is currently providing the Aarogyasri scheme to 80 lakh families under which treatment is provided free of cost. More than 20 lakh families are covered under other health schemes including Aarogyabadhratha, Employee Health Scheme, health scheme of SCCL, and others,” said Dr C Laxma Reddy, State Health Minister, to The New Indian Express.
The minister pointed out that the state government has extended help to Ayushman Bharat scheme by providing software and other technical help.The minister clarified as to why the scheme is not being implemented in Telangana. “Through this scheme (Ayushman Bharat), only 25 lakh families will benefit, while 80 lakh families in the State are already covered under Aarogyasri Health Scheme. Identifying 25 lakh families out of this 80 lakh and providing Arogyasri to remaining 55 lakh will lead to problems in implementation,” he added.