Karnataka govt to provide monetary aid for SC/ST patients with rare diseases

Bengaluru :Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar on Thursday announced monetary aid for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) patients in the state suffering from diseases categorised as "rare diseases" and "high-cost diseases". He said the monetary aid would be given for rare and high cost diseases that are not covered under the Centre's 'Ayushman Bharat' scheme.

"Aid for several types of diseases is currently being provided under the Ayushman Bharat Arogya Karnataka scheme. However, certain rare and high cost diseases are not covered under the Ayushman Bharat scheme," the minister said.

"For such diseases where there is no facility to provide treatment in government hospitals, monetary aid will be provided by the state through Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust using unspent SCSP/TSP fund allocation," Sudhakar added.

He said currently a total of Rs 23.18 crore of unspent allocation exists and it will be used to fund this new scheme.

"The government will provide Rs 10,000 for PET Scan, Rs 7 lakh and Rs 21 lakh for autologous and allogeneic bone marrow transplant respectively and Rs 1.5 lakh for robotic surgeries," he added.

The Health Minister further said the Karnataka government under the leadership of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is building upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of helping the poor and vulnerable through the Ayushman Bharat scheme.

Patients who belong to the SC/ST communities will be greatly benefitted with the aid as it is being extended to even rare and high cost diseases, he added.