Bhubaneswar: “‘Sustha Odisha, Sukhi Odisha’ has been the driving force behind all interventions in the health sector in Odisha. It has been my dream to provide universal health coverage to the people of Odisha, where healthcare is a right; accessible and affordable by all. To take this vision forward, the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana was launched five years ago bringing about a revolution in providing health assurance to the people of Odisha. BSKY coverage is being expanded phase-wise, to provide comprehensive health protection to the entire population of our state,” said Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launching the BSKY Nabin Card on Friday.
In the first phase of BSKY, all services in public health facilities were made free of cost for all persons, irrespective of income or residence. In the second phase, BSKY provided cashless healthcare in private health facilities for all ration card holders, he said.
Under the BSKY, every month over 45 lakh persons receive free healthcare at public health facilities in the state, while 1.3 lakh persons receive cashless healthcare. This amounts to spending Rs 260 crore every month to empanelled private hospitals.
The Chief Minister said that the BSKY has provided nearly 21 lakh patients with cashless healthcare of about Rs 4,500 crore in private hospitals alone during the last five years. “It has thus become a unique model for universal health coverage, leveraging the strengths of both the public and private sectors to provide comprehensive health assurance to the people of Odisha,” he added.
“We are now launching the third phase of BSKY, where all left out families of rural areas of our state will be assured of cashless healthcare in private hospitals for critical ailments. In this phase of expansion, all rural families of Odisha, except regular government employees and income tax payees who are presently not covered under the BSKY, will be eligible to receive the “BSKY Nabin Card”. This will entitle them to cashless care of Rs 5 lakh per annum (up to Rs 10 lakh for women members of the family), in empanelled private hospitals both in and outside the state for identified critical illnesses,” the Chief Minister said.
With this third phase of expansion, it is estimated that over 1.10 crore families, covering nearly 90% of the population of the state, will be provided health assurance under BSKY.
“This will ensure that no family in Odisha is left vulnerable due to lack of financial resources to meet the high expenditure for critical illnesses, thus fulfilling the promise of universal health coverage for the people of Odisha, he said.
