Gehlot rates ‘Rajasthan model’ higher than ‘Kerala model’ in health care. What official data says

While campaigning in Kerala ahead of the assembly elections, former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot claimed that the “Rajasthan model” has emerged as a template for the entire country in the health care sector. He also said that the long-term policies of the Congress government helped Rajasthan reach the top in health care while criticising the current state of Kerala’s health care system.

While campaigning in Thiruvananthapuram, Gehlot said that Kerala, once known for its strong health care system, is now facing a crisis due to the misgovernance of the incumbent Left government.

He said that the Chiranjeevi scheme introduced by the Congress government has transformed Rajasthan’s health care sector. Under the scheme, each family is provided cashless treatment of up to ₹25 lakh and accident insurance coverage of ₹10 lakh.

“The scheme has freed millions of families from the financial distress associated with the treatment of serious illnesses,” he said, adding that a similar scheme would be implemented in Kerala if the Congress-led UDF comes to power.

Notably, a health insurance scheme named after late Congress stalwart and former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy—promising ₹25 lakh health coverage for every household—is a key poll promise of the Congress ahead of the assembly elections in Kerala.

Gehlot claimed that insurance coverage in Rajasthan has reached 93 per cent due to the Chiranjeevi scheme, while the national average stands at just 42 per cent.

He also said that even a person from another state who meets with an accident or falls ill in Rajasthan can now receive free emergency medical care for 24 hours, including in private hospitals, because of the decisions his government made. Notably, the Gehlot government had made a law of ‘Right to Health’ so that free treatment can be done in emergency situations.

The former chief minister further claimed that during the Congress rule, there was a major expansion in health care infrastructure, and that improved medical facilities have led to significant progress in health indicators.

Though Kerala suffers from certain structural troubles, it still scores high in overall health indicators. It performs significantly better than Rajasthan on important health metrics. Kerala achieved the SDG neonatal mortality target before 2000 and has consistently remained among the best-performing states in India.

Kerala also has the highest life expectancy, whereas Rajasthan, despite improvements, continues to struggle with poorer outcomes in neonatal and under-five mortality.

According to the NITI Aayog Health Index 2021—released when Gehlot was in power—in terms of overall health performance among large states, Rajasthan ranked 16th out of 19 states with a score of 41.33, while Kerala ranked first with a score of 82.20.

The NITI Aayog Health Index 2021 also noted that only five larger states, including Kerala, and two smaller states, showed good overall Performance and continued to improve on their Health Index score from the base Year (2018-19) to Reference Year (2019-20). Rajasthan was, in fact, the weakest performer both in terms of Overall Performance and Incremental Performance.

Notably, the LDF promises that it will implement comprehensive healthcare coverage in Kerala. Currently, under the Karunya Health Security Scheme (KASP), 4.2 million beneficiaries have a treatment cost limit of ₹5 lakh. The LDF promises that going forward, treatment benefits will be made available without any cap.

The LDF also promises a special health insurance scheme will be designed and implemented for the “missing middle” category, who are not covered under schemes such as the Karunya Benevolent Fund (KBF), MEDISEP, and other insurance programmes.