Kochi: Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac and Health Minister K.K. Shylaja have rejected the contention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that Kerala has not made use of the Ayushman Bharat health scheme. Dr Isaac said in New Delhi that the prime minister may have made the comment due to misunderstanding while Shylaja said that Kerala is very much part of the scheme.
“Kerala has received the first tranche of Rs 25 crore of the scheme. I don’t know why the prime minister commented that Kerala is not part of the scheme. I hope he will correct once he is apprised of the facts,” said Shylaja in Delhi.
She said that only 18 lakh people in the state could be covered under the scheme while the Karunya Benevolent Fund of the state government covers 40 lakh people. “However, we are not in a position to do away with the Rs 102- crore annual assistance from the centre. Hence, we are including the Ayushman Bharat scheme in the Karunya scheme taking care of the specialties of the state and are implementing it,” Shylaja said.
Dr Isaac said that Kerala had joined the scheme after pointing out its shortcomings. "We have made criticism over the scheme. The state is proceeding with measures, including fixing an insurance company for the scheme as we don't want to lose central benefits and the steps in this regard were delayed due to the code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections," he said.
