Mysuru: For the time being to get treatment, the Arogya Karnataka scheme card is not mandatory. Whether one possesses an Arogya Card that is a Universal Health Card recently launched by the state government, or not, by showing Aadhar card and BPL or APL card one can avail free treatment from any government hospital, said District Health Officer Dr. Basavaraj.
As per the scheme, for BPL card holders, the state will bear the costs of up to Rs 1.5 Lakh and an additional Rs 50,000 per family per annum. The patients must first get treatment at a government hospital which only in case of the absence of the requisite treatment can refer the cases to a private hospital. If the treatment exceeds Rs 2 Lakh, then the patient should bear the expenses. Though the scheme covers both BPL and APL card holders only 30 percent of the total medical expenses will be covered for the APL card holders. The advantage of the present Arogya Karnataka Card is, it covers 1516 different diseases which were not the same with the previous health cards including Yashaswini scheme, Rajiv Arogya Bhagya, Rashtriya Swasthya Karyakram, Mukhyamantri Santwana Harish Yojana and Indira Suraksha Yojane which have been now merged with the Arogya Karnataka Card.
The previous health insurance cards had put the patients into a lot of inconvenience as most of the cards were not covering many diseases. The patients were forced to carry all the health cards they had which is not the case with the present Arogya Karnataka card which covers more than 1500 diseases. While applying for Arogya Card, a self-declaration is also taken wherein the beneficiary desiring to be enrolled under ‘Arogya Karnataka’ scheme gives a declaration that he or she does not have an insurance in any other scheme including ESI”, added Basavaraj. With regard to the confusion among the people regarding whether treatment will be given to those not having Arogya Card, Dr. Basavaraj said, “To make the scheme more effective, the government has come out with certain modifications that states that the patients without Arogya Karnataka Card can submit ration and Aadhar cards during to avail the treatment. Since March, 15,000 cards have been distributed at the T Narasipur Taluk of Mysuru district. The cards being distributed at T Narasipur Taluk are only for the people belonging here and not for other taluk people. This pilot project is being implemented in one taluk of each district in the state. Due to the demand, two places at K R Hospital have also been identified to distribute cards to people and sent to the government.
Direct admission in private hospitals for accidents or heart ailments
In case of accidents and heart-related problems, the patients need not get approval from government hospitals which is mandatory otherwise. They can directly get admitted to hospitals which have been selected under the Arogya Karnataka Scheme. The taluk level officers and the ranks above have been designated to refer the patients to private hospitals. The scheme will benefit nearly 3 crore people.
Dr. Prasad, who looks into the Arogya scheme also briefed about Arogya Karnataka scheme.
