HYDERABAD: In yet another u-turn, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government has decided to dovetail the State government’s Aarogyasri health scheme with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government’s Ayushman Bharat. Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar informed about the decision to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday in a video conference that the latter held with Chief Secretaries of all States.
Modi reviewed the progress of the Central government programmes and schemes, including the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Manthri Jan Aarogya Yojana and Jal Jeevan Mission, among others. According to a press release from the Telangana government, Somesh Kumar informed the PM that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has taken a decision “..to dovetail the Aarogyasri scheme of the Telangana government with the Ayushman Bharat scheme of the Government of India.”
Telangana Health Department Secretary Syed Ali Murtaza Rizvi was also part of the conference.Meanwhile, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan welcomed the move. “Welcome initiative by Honb @TelanganaCMO as this will benefit Telangana people and others from States seeking medical treatment from world-class healthcare facilities available in Hyderbad. Economically weaker sections will have access to advanced tertiary care across wider areas,” she tweeted on Wednesday.
It may be mentioned here that Rao, IT Minister KT Rama Rao, Health Minister Eatala Rajender and other senior functionaries of the Telangana government have many times criticised Ayushman Bharat, comparing it with Aarogyasri. Earlier in September, just hours after Governor Soundararajan had praised Ayushman Bharat, Rao termed it “the most useless of all health schemes”.
Speaking in the Assembly that day, K Chandrasekhar Rao had said Ayushman Bharat is useless as it does not cover as many diseases as Aarogyasri. The decision to dovetail Aarogyasri with Ayushman Bharat
comes as yet another u-turn by the State government.
The State government had decided to stop village-level procurement of paddy and other crops in recognition of the Centre’s new farm laws that permit farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.
Rao had earlier strongly criticised the new agricultural laws of the Modi government and even extended support to the Bharat Bandh on December 8. These developments come close on the heels of the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s visit to Delhi, where he had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
CM had termed BJP scheme useless
Earlier in September, just hours after Governor Soundararajan had praised Ayushman Bharat, KCR termed it “the most useless of all health schemes”
