60 lakh West Bengal families to be hit by Ayushman Bharat withdrawal: Centre
New Delhi, Jan 18 (IBNS): The Centre has written to the West Bengal government saying 60 lakh families in the state would be adversely affected with its withdrawal from the Ayushman Bharat scheme.
According to an ET report, the Union government has said while the state's Swasthya Sathi scheme covered only 50 lakh families, the central scheme cover more than 1.11 crore households.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had taken the step after finding only Prime Minister Narendra Modi's picture was going on the letter being sent by the Centre to beneficiary families. The Centre, however, has argued it had followed all norms.
This comes a day after the Ayushman Bharat scheme received praise from Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates on completion of the programme's 100 days.
Ayushmann Bharat was started by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government on Sept 23, 2018.
Gates tweeted to say, "Congratulations to the Indian government on the first 100 days of @AyushmanNHA. It’s great to see how many people have been reached by the program so far."
The scheme has two major initiatives, Health and Wellness centres and National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS). It covers both preventive and pro-motive health.
It aims to provide health care facilities to 10 crore poor families.
Earlier, Gates had lauded Modi for embracing the Aadhaar scheme, which was brought by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
He wanted other countries to adopt the scheme.
On Jan 1, Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, reportedly said the Ayushman Bharat is a game changer in health care system.
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