BJD BJP spar over health schemes ministers' visit to Odisha

Bhubaneswar, Aug 20 (PTI) The BJD and BJP sparred in the social media over the health insurance schemes of Odisha and the central governments on Friday, the day Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched smart health cards for people to help them avail cashless healthcare services.

The two parties were also involved in a war of words over the visit to Sri Jagannath Temple in Puri by Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Ashwini Vaishnaw during BJP's public outreach programme Jan Ashirwad Yatra.



The exchange was sparked off by a tweet of Pradhan, the union education minister on Thursday night regarding the implementation of the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme.



“The people of Odisha, especially migrant Odias, are facing a lot of problems due to health issues. I request Hon'ble Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to immediately implement the welfare health scheme Ayushman Bharat,” he tweeted.



He said that if the scheme is implemented in Odisha, it will specially benefit the poor and those making their living outside the state.



Ruling BJD organising secretary Pranab Prakash Das hit back on Friday, saying the central scheme had a cap of Rs 5 lakh for the treatment of poor people, while the state government’s Biju Swastya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) had no limits at government hospitals.



“The beneficiaries of Ayushman (Bharat) are 60 lakh, while there are 96 lakh families under the BSKY," Das tweeted.



“Ayushman does not include hospitals like Apollo and Fortis, but the BSKY includes almost all major hospitals, including Apollo and Fortis,” Das said.



BJD spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Amar Patnaik advised BJP to refashion Ayushman Bharat like the BSKY “as it is advantageous by miles over the former”.



“With the smart card based revamped BSKY, Naveen Patnaik seeks to achieve universal health for all, which has incidentally been announced by PM but can be achieved only through BSKY and not through Ayushman Bharat,” the Rajya Sabha MP tweeted.



BJP state secretary Tankadhar Tripathy refuted Patnaik by posting a chart on Odisha’s health facilities, claiming that “maximum No. of posts of doctors are vacant in district hospitals”.



“Would request to think about people’s health condition & to (give) advice on proper implementation of it,” Tripathy posted in the comment section of Patnaik’s tweet.



Odisha minister Arun Sahoo took a dig at Pradhan and Railways Minister Vaishnaw obeisance at the Jagannath temple in Puri.



Sahoo posted on social media that the people of Odisha know the difference between receiving spontaneous blessings through constant service and seeking blessings “without service”.



BJP leader Lekha Samantsinghar retorted that people of the state know the difference between “abuse of power” , devotion to the Lord and begging for blessings to serve the people. PTI HMB AAM
KK KK

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)