Aarogyasri COVID treatment: Governor urged to intervene

Implement Ayushman Bharat scheme, says Bandi Sanjay

The Bharatiya Janata Party has urged Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan to intervene and see that the State government immediately implements Aarogyasri health insurance scheme for COVID patients and enhances the eligibility from ₹2lakh to ₹5 lakh on par with the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat, besides providing special grants to government hospitals to ramp up infrastructure to meet any future exigencies. In a communication to Dr. Soundarajan, a copy of which was released to the media on Sunday, party president Bandi Sanjay Kumar explained that the coronavirus has now spread to the districts and scores of people have fallen sick but due to the lack of adequate public healthcare facilities, they are forced to depend on private hospitals who are “exploiting the situation and charging indiscriminately.” From the first wave of March 2020, the government here had failed to ramp up medical facilities in both rural and urban areas “despite getting funds from the Centre” - forcing poor people to rush to private hospitals as the government healthcare facilities are full.