A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Orissa High Court, seeking a direction to the state government to implement Ayushman Bharat Yojana, a national public health insurance scheme of the central government.
The PIL has been filed by senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sameer Mohanty.
Alleging that the state government is deliberately depriving the people of the state of getting benefits from the central government’s health insurance scheme, Mohanty has filed the petition.
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“Since the day of announcement of the scheme, all the states and Union Territories in the country have implemented the scheme except West Bengal, Odisha, and Delhi. Most of the states have implemented the scheme along with their own state-sponsored health assurance scheme like the state of Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala to name a few. By virtue of implementing such a hybrid model, the people of these States are availing the best of both schemes without incurring any financial burden,” read Mohanty’s petition.
“It was in the year 2019 that the Union Health Minister had written a letter to the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha to implement the scheme in the State of Odisha. However till now for the reasons best known to them, the State of Odisha has not implemented the scheme,” stated Mohanty in his petition.
“Therefore on account of the adamant attitude of the Government of Odisha in not implementing the PMJAY scheme in the state, the people have been deprived of getting free medical facilities throughout the Country,” read the petition further.