Drive under way in DK to help needy obtain Ayushman cards

Mangaluru: Several youths and members of NGOs in the city have joined hands to help the citizens obtain Ayushman Bharat cards that provide healthcare for Covid-19 and other diseases in government and empanelled private hospitals. Wellness Helpline, a platform of doctors, district administration officials, and NGOs formed to fight Covid-19, have launched Wellness Smart Locality Camp and are helping people get Ayushman Bharat cards for free. They have identified a sponsor — Edinabba Foundation — to look after the expenses for the initial 10,000 cards and other services.
Zakaria Farvez, co-ordinator, Wellness Helpline told TOI, the idea of reaching out to the needy and taking care of their health needs, struck during the nationwide lockdown. “We were lacking a system in place to deal with health challenges. Several NGOs reached out to the poor and were involved in ration distribution. This helped us build a database of the needy. With the pandemic, people realized the importance of having Ayushman Health Card and various other supportive documents with them. Since we are on a mission to fight the pandemic, we have seen people struggle to obtain documents, especially after hospital admissions,” he said.
“We are trying to connect with Jamats and other faith-based organisations in Dakshina Kannada to identify the poor. We have also launched locality wise camps. Along with Ayushman cards, we help people obtain senior citizen cards, new APL cards, addition and deletion of names in ration card, address changes in Aadhaar cards, labour cards, and other essential documents. Four camps have been held so far after a pilot was launched in Kudroli last week. This camp is open to people of all faith,” he said.
The fifth camp will be held from August 31 to September 3 at the St Mary’s High school, Falnir. So far nearly 5,000 Ayushman Bharat cards have been issued.
Dr Ratnakar, district nodal officer, Ayushman Bharat scheme said, Ayushman cards can be obtained through agents recognised under the Seva Sindhu portal and also from Mangalore One centres. So far, about 3.5 lakh cards have been issued. “With the pandemic, people have become more conscious about health-related programmes,” he added.