Healthcare costs of Rs 5 lakh per family to be borne by Odisha govt under new health scheme, says CM Naveen Patnaik

Bhubaneswar: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday announced a health assurance scheme ‘Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana’ that will benefit around 3.5 crore people belonging to over 70 lakh families in the state. [caption id=“attachment_4508331” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Naveen Patnaik. PTI[/caption] “Under the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana, up to 5 lakh worth of secondary and tertiary cashless healthcare assistance will be provided per family, per annum,” said Patnaik. Under this programme, a family would get up to Rs 5 lakh per annum to meet healthcare expenditure at all government-run hospitals and the entire cost would be borne by the state government. “One of our major commitments is universal health coverage. In this regard, I am happy to announce that any person visiting any government health institution from district to sub-centre level will be provided all health services free of cost,” Patnaik said on Tuesday. Patnaik also announced that drop-back assistance of Rs 500 would be provided to all pregnant women and infants who visit public health facilities. The scheme will come into effect from 15 August this year.