Odishatv Bureau
Bhubaneswar: In a bid to provide better healthcare for poor people, the state government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with 14 private and corporate hospitals to treat them under the Odisha State Treatment Fund (OSTF).
 
The poor people can now avail treatment at big hospitals, said health and family welfare minister Damodar Rout adding that the OSTF facility can be used by citizens enlisted under the BPL category and those having an annual family income of less than Rs 40,000 in rural areas and 60,000 in urban areas.
 
The institutions where OSTF facility can be availed include city-based hospitals such as Kalinga, Aditya Care, Ayush, Apollo, Hi-Tech, KIMS and SUM Hospital.
 
Rout said the state will soon sign MoUs with six other hospitals located outside Odisha. Out of these, three hospitals are located each in Vishakhapatnam and as many number in Raipur.
 
The district collectors have also been asked to identify good private hospitals within their jurisdiction and submit a proposal to the government for their empanelling, Rout said.
 
Financial assistance of upto Rs 3 lakh could be provided to patients eligible under OSTF. However, no assistance would be provided for reimbursement of the expenditure already incurred.
 
A patient can avail treatment at private hospitals if he or she is referred by a government hospital.
 
So far 13,314 patients have been provided financial assistance under the scheme and the government had to foot a bill of more than Rs 23 crore, an official said.
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