NEW DELHI, Jun 8 : Union Health Minister J P Nadda on Monday alleged that the government of former chief minister Mamata Banerjee deprived the people of West Bengal of the benefits of the Centre’s flagship Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana despite repeated requests from the Union government.
Speaking at the signing of an MoU between the National Health Authority (NHA) and the new West Bengal government for the implementation of the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme in the state, Nadda said the fight led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bengal was not merely to form a government in the state, but for the entire nation.
“We saw what Bengal went through. We saw murders taking place in broad daylight. We saw how the law-and-order situation was compromised. We also saw Bengal become an entry point for infiltrators and anti-national elements,” Nadda alleged.
The health minister said people of the state helped free Bengal from that situation under Modi’s leadership and described the rollout of the Ayushman Bharat scheme in the state as the beginning of a “new chapter” in Bengal’s journey.
Targeting the previous Trinamool Congress regime in Bengal, Nadda said it did not implement the health cover scheme despite repeated requests from the Centre, depriving the residents of cashless treatment benefits available across the country.
With the signing of the MoU, West Bengal became the 36th state/Union territory in the country to implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme. Bengal was the only state that did not join the scheme earlier.
Recalling his time in public life since 1993, Nadda said people earlier approached public representatives seeking financial assistance for costly medical procedures because healthcare expenses often pushed families into distress.
“Today, under Ayushman Bharat, a person from West Bengal can go to a hospital in Chennai or anywhere else in the country and receive cashless treatment,” Nadda said.
He also said that more than 33,000 girls in Bengal have already been vaccinated under the HPV vaccination programme out of a targeted 7.65 lakh beneficiaries.
The vaccination programme was also delayed in Bengal despite receiving approval from the prime minister earlier this year, he said.
The programme was rolled out on May 30 after Suvendu Adhikari took charge as the chief minister, with about 33,700 doses against cervical cancer administered to adolescent girls already, he said.
Calling the occasion historic, Nadda said the implementation of Ayushman Bharat would ensure that the residents of West Bengal receive the same healthcare benefits available to citizens across the country. (PTI )
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