Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government has granted an additional Rs 200 crore for Karunya Arogya Suraksha Padhathi (KASAP), its integrated health protection scheme that is estimated to have benefited 64 lakh people in the southern state. With this additional allocation, the total amount granted for the flagship scheme in the present financial year has gone up to Rs 800 crore, state Finance Minister K N Balagopal said in a statement.
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He said KASAP is a comprehensive scheme which ensures the healthcare of 42 lakh families in Kerala and the State Health Agency under the Health Department, is implementing the programme.
The scheme has been launched by the state government with an objective of avoiding a situation where sudden heavy medical expenses push ordinary families into financial ruin, the minister said.
Giving details of the healthcare scheme, he said an average of 180 patients per hour (3 patients per 1 minute) benefit from it. At present, 1,667 treatment packages are included as part of the scheme and its service is available in 200 government and 544 private hospitals in the southern state, he added.
According to government sources, KASAP aims at providing a health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to over 42 lakh poor and vulnerable families (approximately 64 lakh beneficiaries) that form the bottom 40 per cent of the Kerala population.
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(Ecept for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
