Cuttack (Odisha), Apr 11 (PTI) Union Health Minister J P Nadda on Friday launched the Ayushman Bharat Yojana in Odisha, and expressed hope that the central health insurance scheme will soon be implemented in neighbouring West Bengal – the only state where it is still not in force.

The Ayushman Bharat scheme was implemented in Odisha 10 months after the BJP came to power in the state, while assembly elections are due in West Bengal, currently ruled by the Trinamool Congress, in 2026.

Asserting that the BJP government has fulfilled its promises given to the people of Odisha, Nadda said the TMC government in West Bengal continued to reject the Centre’s appeal to implement Ayushman Bharat scheme. “Time has now come for lotus to bloom there (WB) and Ayushman will be implemented,” he said.

“There were three states – Odisha, Delhi and West Bengal – where the Ayushman Bharat scheme was not implemented. However, the scheme came into operation in Odisha and Delhi after the change of government in these states. The people of Bengal will also get the facility and the BJP is committed to provide this health scheme to all the citizens of India,” he said.

Nadda claimed that the state governments which put hurdles before implementation of the Narendra Modi government’s welfare schemes have paid a price.

“The people have rejected the governments in Odisha and also in Delhi,” he said.

The BJP in February returned to power in Delhi after more than 26 years defeating the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party with a two-thirds majority.

Nadda recalled how he, as a Union health minister, had appealed to both Naveen Patnaik and Aravind Kejriwal, erstwhile CMs of Odisha and Delhi respectively, to implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme but got rejected.

“We have requested Naveen Babu several times, but he claimed that his BJD government’s health scheme was better than Ayushman Bharat. Similar was the case of Kejriwal,” he said.

He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Ayushman Bharat Scheme at Ranchi in September 2018. However, three states refused to implement it and two of them have been ousted from power by the people.

Billed as the world’s largest government healthcare programme, the scheme aims to provide a coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family annually.

Nadda said more than 8.19 crore people have availed services under the scheme and Rs 1.26 lakh crore have been spent under the same to provide healthcare services to the people of the country.

The Union health minister said that around 61 crore people are covered under the scheme now.

He said earlier, more than 55 crore people were covered under the scheme.

“In October last year, people over 70 years of age were covered under the scheme and now, with the implementation of Ayushman Vaya Vandana in Odisha, all senior citizens aged 70 years and above, irrespective of their socio-economic status, will be covered,” he stated.

Nadda claimed out-of-pocket expenditure of patients has declined from 62 per cent to 38 per cent now is a result of the Ayushman Bharat scheme.

He said under the PM ABHIM scheme, Rs 1,411 crore was given to strengthen the healthcare infrastructure of Odisha.

Calling it a “historic day” for Odisha, Nadda said as many as 3.51 crore people of 1.03 lakh families of the state will get the benefit from the schemes like Ayushman Bharat, Ayushman Vaya-Vandana Yojana, and the state-run Gopabandhu Jan Arogya Yojana (GJAY).

He said each member of a family will get separate cards and they can avail the health service facility in 30,000 government and private hospitals across the country.

“I understand that many people from Odisha work in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and other places. They all can avail of this facility,” Nadda said.

He launched the scheme in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi.

Addressing the gathering, Majhi said that the previous BJD government did not implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme due to political reasons, because of which the people suffered.

“However, after installation of the double engine government (in Odisha), the people are getting benefits earlier denied to them,” he said.

The CM said the BJP government has been filling vacant posts of doctors and para-medical staff.

“Today our government completes 10 months and during this period, we have filled up 4000 posts including doctors in the healthcare facilities,” he said adding that 5,374 doctors and dentists will be recruited very soon.

Majhi said the state presently has 12 medical colleges and two others will come up soon.

Budgetary allocations have been made for setting up new medical colleges in Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Nabarangpur and Dhenkanal districts along with four dental colleges, he said.

Nadda along with Majhi inaugurated a new seven-storied building and a hostel for doctors at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Postgraduate Institute of Pediatrics or Sishu Bhavan in Cuttack.

The number of beds in the institute is now increased from 422 to 846. It has 140 ICU beds. The hostel can accommodate about 180 resident doctors.

They also inaugurated a micro-biological laboratory at the State Medical Corporation campus in Bhubaneswar. PTI BBM AAM ACD AAM NN