Ahead of the proposed re-launch of the Yeshaswini health scheme on October 2, the Congress on Tuesday taunted the BJP government for being ill-prepared, though there are only about 20 days left for the day of re-launch.
Picking out details in the government’s reply to his questions, Congress Chief Whip Prakash Rathod said: “The guidelines for the scheme is yet to be announced. The decision on the number of diseases to be covered and the scope of beneficiaries are yet to be decided,” he said.
Though Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced the re-launch of the scheme in the Budget with an allocation of ₹300 crore, the government has not started work and everything still appears to be in process, he added.
Taking objection to this, Cooperation Minister S.T. Somashekar said that the Finance Department and the Health Department, which had raised certain doubts, have now approved it. “We will form a new trust. The decision on the inclusion of cooperative bank officials and employees are yet to be taken. Even if it’s a little late, we will implement the scheme well,” he promised. He pointed out that a scheme launched during the Congress government by S.M. Krishna in 2003 was let go by the Congress government headed by Siddaramaiah.
Who should administer?
BJP member A.H. Vishwanath, during whose tenure as Cooperation Minister the scheme had been launched, said that it should be administered by the Cooperation Department since the scheme failed after it was handed over to the Health Department. Another former Cooperation Minister Laxman Savadi cautioned the government that some of the empanelled private hospitals could commit irregularities and the government needs to be vigilant.
The scheme, which is slightly modified from the earlier one, envisages to provide access to quality medical facilities to farming families.
