Karnataka govt announces monetary aid for SC/ST patients with “rare diseases”, “high-cost diseases”

Monetary aid for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) patients has been announced by Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar on Thursday for state patients of the state suffering from diseases categorized as “rare diseases” and “high-cost diseases”.

The aid will be given for rare and high-cost diseases which will not be covered under the Centre’s ‘Ayushman Bharat’ scheme.

“Aid for several types of diseases is currently being provided under the Ayushman Bharat Arogy Karnataka Scheme. However, certain Rear and High-cost diseases are not covered under the Ayushman Bharat scheme,” Sudhakar 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 Trust using unspent SCST/TSP (Tribal Sub Plan) fund allocation,” Sudhakar said.

Meanwhile, to fund this new scheme a total of Rs 23.18 crore of unspent allocation exists which will be used for monetary aid.

“Currently a total of Rs 23.18 crore of unspent allocations exists and this 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 Allogenic bone marrow transplants respectively and Rs 1.5 lakh for robotic surgeries,” Sudhakar added.

Moreover, Dr. Sudhakar further stated, “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 benefitted greatly as aid is being extended to even ‘Rare’ and ‘High’ cost diseases,” Sudhakar added.