New Delhi:
Targeting the Trinamool Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over not implementing the Ayushman Bharat scheme in West Bengal and Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the tendency to oppress ailing people for political interests is inhuman.
The Prime Minister launched the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) health insurance scheme for senior citizens. Under this scheme, people aged above 70 years will get a health cover up to Rs Rs 5 lakh annually. Those already covered under the Ayushman Bharat scheme will get a top-up of Rs 5 lakh crore. The scheme aims to benefit about 6 crore senior citizens.
“There was a time when people’s houses, lands, jewellery were sold for treatment. The soul of the poor trembled on hearing the cost of treatment for a serious disease. The helplessness of not being able to get treatment due to lack of money would shatter the poor. I could not see my poor brothers and sisters in this helplessness. That is why the ‘Ayushman Bharat’ scheme was born,” the Prime Minister said, adding that around 4 crore people in the country benefited from the scheme.
“But I apologise to the elderly in Delhi and West Bengal for being unable to serve them. I would know that you are in trouble, but I won’t be able to help you. Because the governments in Delhi and West Bengal are not joining this scheme,” he said.
“The tendency to oppress the sick people of your state for political interests does not stand the test of humanity. I can serve the people of the country, but the walls of political interests are preventing me from serving the elderly people of Delhi, and West Bengal,” the Prime Minister said.
