Hyderabad: The state government is reluctant to implement ‘Modicare’, the Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM) that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch on August 15.
The TRS government is not keen to give credit to Mr Modi and help the BJP in the state in the election year.
The state is spending Rs 700 crore per year on Arogyasri, aimed at providing free treatment for the poor in private and corporate hospitals, which came into force in 2008 in undivided AP.
The Centre is willing to allow the state to link Arogyasri with Modicare, but wants the photograph of Mr Modi to be printed on the Arogyasri card along with that of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao which the state government is reluctant to do.
Moreover, the Centre’s contribution will be Rs 200 crore, for the sake of which the state government is not keen to share the credit with the BJP after spending '700 crore on its own.
At present, nearly 80 lakh families are covered under Arogyasri. As per the Centre’s norms, Modicare would cover 26 lakh families. For these 26 lakh families, the state will have to bear 40 per cent expenditure, while it will get just about Rs 212 crore as the Centre’s share.
The Centre has asked all states to make their stand clear on implementation of Modicare by July so that it can sanction funds accordingly to each state.
The medical and health department has sent the file pertaining to Modicare scheme to the CMO for approval so that proposals could be sent to the Centre.
However, official sources said Mr Rao had kept the file aside as he was not keen to give credit to Mr Modi or the BJP.
