Health Minister Shivananda Patil distributes G Shanker Health Cards to 30000 Families
Udupi: “Only some persons are doing their bit for the welfare of poor people. Among such, Entrepreneur G Shankar is in the first place and by helping the poor people for education and distributing the health cards, he is doing the work which was supposed to have been done by the government”, said Shivananda S Patil state health and family welfare minister.
He was speaking after distributing G Shanker Family Trust sponsored Manipal Arogya Suraksha Card for the 30000 families at Shyamili Auditorium Ambalpadi Udupi on September 29.
The State government is committed to providing quality healthcare to the people of the State. The charges for medical procedures under Ayushman Bharat and Arogya Karnataka Scheme are low. More than 1.3 crore families in Karnataka will be covered by the Ayushmaan Bharat of the Central and Arogya Karnataka health scheme of the State governments under the co-branded common scheme. The two schemes are already under implementation in the State and would be taken up as a co-branded single scheme that is likely to emerge as a model for other States to follow.
Patil said that while the state government’s Arogya Bhagya programme will cover 1.43 crore families, the Centre’s programme will cover only around 62 lakh families. He further said, “The Centre is likely to fund 60 percent of the cost for only the 62 lakh families, while the remaining 40 percent will have to be borne by the state government. We will shell out the entire cost of the remaining families that we have decided to provide.”
He also said, “The Arogya Karnataka provides universal health coverage to all residents of Karnataka and the objectives and coverage of Ayushmaan Bharat is similar, it was intended to converge both the schemes and implement them as one single co-branded scheme”.
In his introductory speech, G Shankar said that every year the number of cardholders is increasing. Earlier there were 2,000 beneficiaries using these cards, today there are 1.35 lakh beneficiaries.
Raghupathi Bhat Udupi MLA, Dr H S Ballal Pro-chancellor MAHE Manipal, Vinay Karkera Malpe president of Mogaveera Yuva Sangatane and others were present.
