Politics over Ayushman Bharat unfortunate: Union health minister JP Nadda

BHUBANESWAR: Union health minister JP Nadda on Saturday described Odisha’s decision not to be part of Centre’s flagship health protection scheme Ayushman Bharat as a political move which will deprive people of Odisha of taking massive healthcare benefits.


Responding to media queries at Balasore, Nadda said, “Ayushman Bharat should not be seen in a political prism…It’s inappropriate to deprive people of Odisha from getting benefits of the scheme.” The Union minister was in Balasore to lay the foundation stone of a satellite centre of AIIMS Bhubaneswar there.

Nadda said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the scheme keeping in mind the spirit of Team India and cooperative federalism. No state scheme can be a substitute because health coverage under Ayushman Bharat is portable and inter-state operative. People from any part of India can take health care benefits under the scheme in any empanelled hospital anywhere in the country, he said.

Allaying apprehension that those not having Aadhar would not get benefits of the scheme, one of the objections Odisha had cited to opt out of the scheme, Nadda said the central scheme will not be Aadhar-based. “There will be separate QR code in the health card to identify enrolled beneficiaries. It will cover most of the people in the country,” he said.

Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who accompanied Nadda, said state’s decision to stay out of Ayushman Bharat is equivalent to hounding the poor for political benefits. “Hundreds of people from Odisha who are going outside the state in search of work will be deprived of the health coverage because of the state government’s decision,” he said.

Odisha’s health minister Pratap Jena could not be contacted for comment. He has earlier said the state’s scheme, Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) rolled out on August 15, is a better scheme compared to the central scheme.

Odisha had earlier said ‘Modicare’ if implemented would benefit 61 lakh families while there are around 70 lakh families who need government-supported health coverage.