Swasthya Sathi scheme is a health insurance scheme of the West Bengal government. It was launched in 2016 and it has now been expanded to cover the state’s entire population. It provides basic health cover for secondary and tertiary care up to 5 lakh INR per annum per family. Both state-run and private hospitals are part of the scheme. The card under the scheme is issued to the female guardians of the families.

What are the new expanded features of Swathya Sathi Scheme?

=> Every citizen and every family in the state are to be included in the scheme irrespective of their age group.

=> The scheme is to be completely funded by the state government of West Bengal.

=> The scheme will provide a smart card to each and every family of the state to avail the benefits under the scheme. The Smart Cards are to be issued in the names of the women members of the family.

=> All the private and state-run hospitals are to be brought under the scheme

=> Under the scheme, the State Government representatives will visit every household to complete the enrolment procedure. This is to be done under the Duarey Duarey Paschimbongo Sarkar initiative.

=> The state government of West Bengal is to allocate 2,000 crores of rupees to implement the scheme

=> So far, around 1,590 hospitals have been empaneled in the scheme. The scheme will cover 1.5 crore families, that is, 7.5 crore people.

Background

The West Bengal Government has not implemented the Ayushman Bharat Health Scheme launched by the central government. The state of West Bengal is to go for elections in 2021. The State Government has been lately launching several schemes and expanding the existing schemes in the lime light of assembly elections. The West Bengal Government recently launched the Duare Sarkar Campaign under which the Government services are to be provided at the door steps.