Banarpal: Even though there are central and state government schemes to provide free health services to people, eligible beneficiaries of Banarpal block in Angul district have reportedly been deprived of such benefits.
Banarpal community health centre (CHC) has drastically failed in delivering any benefit under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana and Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana to the eligible beneficiaries.
The card holders of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana are entitled to get medicines up to Rs 30, 000. In case the hospital where the card holder is undergoing treatment does not have the required medicine the authorities are required to procure the medicine from outside. But the cardholders in Banarpal block have been deprived of getting any such benefits for two years now.
Similarly, under Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana, the beneficiaries are entitled to get free health services at any government hospital. People can have this facility in hospitals in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. But the beneficiaries of Banarpal block have been deprived of this service since December, 2019.
While there are about 30, 000 BPL beneficiaries in the block, 20, 000 of them have cards and are eligible to get free health services.
But the beneficiaries visiting the CHC allege that they are not getting any benefits even though they have cards.
To avail benefits, the procedure is to enter the details of a card in the computer installed at the hospital office. This has been stopped at Banarpal CHC.
When contacted, chief health officer of the CHC Sankarshan Gahana admitted it that patients are not getting any benefits under the yojanas. “The government has withdrawn both the yojanas from this CHC. If these yojanas are reintroduced, the beneficiaries will start getting the facilities,” he informed.
PNN