Bhubaneswar: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday hit out at the state government for stopping the Odisha State Treatment Fund (OSTF) meant for the poor.
Party spokesperson Golak Mohapatra Saturday told the media that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Health Minister Naba Kishore Das have backtracked on their own promise of continuing the OSTF scheme for the poor of Odisha.
He said, “The state government should not have made such tall promises of serving the people in need. Naveen Patnaik had promised that he would never stop the scheme meant to provide a handholding support to the poor during medical emergency.”
The BJP leader also added, “It was said by the CM before elections. What is the point of such a false promise if you cannot keep it? Similar statements were also made by the health minister in the Assembly.”
The saffron party criticised the discontinuance of the special treatment fund to the poor at Covid times.
This comes after the state government, through a notification and official correspondence, talked about stopping the scheme for the people in the light of Covid-19 pandemic.
Several people from economically weaker sections of the society were earlier able to undertake several critical life-saving surgeries in private and other hospitals with the financial assistance provided by the state government under OSTF.
The state government, however, claims that although it has stopped OSTF aid, Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana will continue in the state.
Mohapatra, meanwhile, attacked the state government for not coming on board with the Modi government for the ambitious Ayushman Bharat Yojana which, he said, could have helped scores of people during this health crisis.
BJD leader Debi Prasad Mishra said, “There are other alternatives in place. The state government has now decentralised the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) which the District Collectors can use for the people in need in their districts.”
PNN