Revival Of Yeshaswini Scheme May Not Be Feasible: Health Department Officials

While the demand for reintroducing the Yeshaswini health scheme for farmers is growing, with even Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa recently promising farmers in Tumakuru that the scheme would be revived in a month, officials in the Health Department say this may not be feasible as the scheme has already been subsumed under Ayushman Bharat-Arogya Karnataka(AB-ArK).

Yeshaswini, launched in 2003 by the State government, was one of the largest self-funded healthcare schemes in the country. Covering 823 defined surgical procedures, the scheme enabled rural beneficiaries to avail cashless treatment costing up to ₹2 lakh for a single admission every year for an annual contribution of ₹250. Urban beneficiaries were able to avail treatment costing up to ₹2.5 lakh for an annual contribution of ₹710. About 40 lakh members of cooperative bodies in urban areas were eligible under this scheme.

While Health and Family Welfare Minister B. Sriramulu told The Hindu on Saturday that he was studying the feasibility of reintroducing Yeshaswini, sources close to him said that if this happens the possibility of duplication of claims will be high.

“The very purpose of merging the scheme with AB-ArK was to avoid duplication. If it is to be separated again from AB-Ark, there will be a lot of issues. Moreover, it will only be an additional burden on the State government. It may not be feasible to have a separate scheme for farmers, when the entire population is covered under AB-ArK,” a source said.

“While Yeshaswini covered 823 procedures with a maximum benefit cover of up to ₹ 2 lakh, Ayushman Bharat-Arogya Karnataka covers 1,650 procedures with a benefit cover of ₹5 lakh. It may not be a wise move to reintroduce the scheme now,” the source said.

A similar move to reintroduce Yeshaswini during H.D. Kumaraswamy’s tenure as Chief Minister had fallen flat after officials informed him that it was not feasible.

C.N. Manjunath, director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, who was a member of the Yeshaswini Trust, said the self-funded scheme is popular among farmers as it covers secondary procedures without referral. “The referral system under AB-ArK is actually hitting patients hard during emergencies when they tend to rush to the nearest hospital. With most government hospitals in rural areas ill-equipped to handle emergencies, precious time is lost if the patient has to be referred to a private hospital. In this scenario, most end up paying out of their own pocket,” he said.

Seven in one

Arogya Karnataka was rolled out in the State in March last year by merging seven existing health schemes — Vajpayee Arogyasri, Yeshaswini, Jyothi Sanjeevini, Mukhyamantri Santwana ‘Harish’ scheme, Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram, Rajiv Arogya Bhagya, and Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY). The idea was to eliminate overlap of multiple health schemes and duplication in fund release.

In October, Arogya Karnataka was co-branded with Ayushman Bharat after the State signed a memorandum of understanding with the Centre. Following this, the annual health cover (under Arogya Karnataka) of ₹1.5 lakh a year for a BPL family of five, with additional assistance of ₹50,000 in some cases, has been raised to ₹5 lakh.-The Hindu