Free treatment under Vay Vandana scheme for senior citizens aged 70 and above still elusive in Karnataka
Responding to the State's letter seeking adequate support to implement the Vay Vandana scheme, which is an extended part of the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY), the Centre has requested Karnataka to start providing the services and that the payment modalities for additional cost will be worked out soon.
Sharing ratio
Expressing the State's inability to start the Vay Vandana scheme without any clarity on the fund release, Karnataka's Principal Secretary (Health) Harsh Gupta had written to the Union Health Secretary pointing out that the State is entitled to get ₹36.58 crore from the Centre for the scheme as per the 60:40 sharing ratio of Ayushman Bharat Arogya Karnataka (AB-ArK) scheme.
'Although the sharing ratio for the health scheme between the Centre and State should be 60:40, it is actually 25:75 as the State bears expenditure for around 1.12 crore families while the Centre is only funding the expenses of 69 lakh families as listed under the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data,' he said in the letter.
Of the total AB-ArK beneficiaries, the State has around 15.12 lakh families with senior citizens as members. Of these, 9.22 lakh are SECC-identified families (tagged families), and the remaining are over and above the SECC-identified families (untagged families). 'The Centre will provide the State with additional support at the rate of a mere ₹75.7 per family per annum for tagged families and ₹1,052 per family per annum for the untagged families. However, additional support to the untagged families will be provided only after the 69 lakh families out of 1.12 crore total families are tagged,' the letter stated.
NHA's letter
In response to this, L.S. Changsan, Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Authority (NHA) that is the implementing agency for AB PM-JAY, said the additional premium for existing beneficiary families determined at ₹75.7 per family per annum covers the additional top-up wallet of ₹5 lakh, which is utilised only after the primary wallet of the family is exhausted. For new beneficiary families, the annual premium of ₹1,052 per family aligns with the existing premium structure under AB PM-JAY, the NHA CEO's letter stated.
'Based on the consultations with States in July 2024 and the inputs received subsequently, the principles for tagging are being finalised. The identification of existing families and new families will be done based on these principles. However, the State may start providing the services to the Ayushman Vay Vandana card holders and tagging activity will be completed before fund release proposals for the ABVV are due,' the letter said.
No definitive mechanism
However, Karnataka's Finance Department has not agreed to this. 'In the absence of any definite mechanism to link the AB-ArK beneficiaries with the actual SECC data, as per the next best approximation worked out by the State Health Department, Karnataka will require a total of ₹68.98 crore per annum for the senior citizens scheme. As the Centre has to provide 60% of this amount to the State, Karnataka is entitled to get ₹36.58 crore from the Centre. We are now planning to place this issue before the State Cabinet for further discussion,' Mr. Harsh Gupta told The Hindu.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
5 hours ago
- Time of India
Industry must follow ethical practices in labelling, advertising food products: Govt
New Delhi: The Centre on Wednesday asked industries to follow ethical practices in labelling and advertisements of food products to ensure public health and protect consumer interest. The concern was raised at a National Stakeholder Consultation on the subject, 'Comprehensive Analysis of Regulatory Framework on Food Labelling, Advertisement and Claims,' the Health Ministry said in a statement. The consultation was organised by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. At the event, MHFW Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava stressed the importance of ethical and truthful practices in labelling and advertising in the food sector. According to the statement, she said, "Things are changing rapidly today. We are now exposed to the entire world, which means we must adopt many positive changes and best practices, while also scrutinizing food products more closely." Nidhi Khare, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, asked the industry to make "truthful and honest declarations" and desist from misleading ads. "Food labelling should not just be a marketing tool, but it should also be treated as the most essential factor of trust between a manufacturer and a consumer. We want truthful and honest declaration of whatever is contained in the food product, and the consumer should be left to make the final choice," Khare said. The consultation was attended by around 700 representatives from central and state governments, scientific experts, food businesses, industry associations, consumer organizations, and academic institutions.>
Time of India
a day ago
- Time of India
37,00,000 a year, 10,000 per day: The startling scale of dog bites in India
India's dog bite crisis is spiralling into a serious public health challenge, with numbers that experts describe as deeply alarming. In 2024 alone, the country recorded 37.17 lakh dog bite cases — averaging more than 10,000 incidents every single day. These figures reveal a widening gap between the Centre's goal of eliminating rabies by 2030 and the realities on the ground. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Rabies deaths: A stark data gap Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads A post-covid rise in cases Dog bite surge & death toll Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Grim situation in NCR Rabies is preventable, but… India's dog bite crisis is escalating at a pace that public health experts find deeply alarming. In 2024 alone, the country recorded 37.17 lakh cases, an average of over 10,000 dog bites every single day. This surge points to a growing gap between disease prevention goals and on-ground one looks at official rabies death figures, the contrast is startling. Government data for 2022 recorded just 21 rabies WHO, using Indian government and other domestic sources, reported 305 deaths for the same year, as per The Times of WHO's modelling estimates 18,000–20,000 deaths annually in India -- more than 36% of global rabies fatalities. Most of these victims are children under 15, a group especially vulnerable to stray dog per ToI analysis, dog bite cases dipped during the Covid years -- from 75.7 lakh in 2018 to just 17 lakh in 2021 -- but have surged again since, touching 37.2 lakh in leads the tally with 13.5 lakh cases between 2022 and 2024, followed by Tamil Nadu (12.9 lakh) and Gujarat (8.4 lakh).As per the latest available census data from 2019, Uttar Pradesh had the highest stray dog population in India at 20.6 lakh, followed by Odisha with 17.3 and Rajasthan each reported 12.8 lakh strays, while Karnataka had 11.4 lakh.A total of 26,334 dog bite cases have been reported in Delhi so far this year, official data accessed by PTI shown. Of these, 9,920 cases were recorded at Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) hospitals, while 15,010 cases were reported at its anti-rabies vaccination (ARV) data indicates that 68,090 dog bite cases were recorded in the city in 2024. As of July 31 this year, Delhi has reported 49 cases of rabies, according to the data. Between January 25 and June 25, more than 65,000 stray dogs have been sterilised and vaccinated. During the same January–June period, the capital saw 35,198 animal bite incidents in civic body has earlier announced plans to sterilise and vaccinate 97,994 dogs between April 2024 and December 2025. In comparison, 79,959 dogs were sterilised in 2023–24 and 59,076 in the preceding has emerged as one of the most worrying hotspots, logging 3.6 lakh dog bites and 42 rabies deaths in 2024 alone. In just the past six months, the state recorded 2.3 lakh incidents and 19 deaths. Kerala too has seen a sharp spike in to ToI, Gurgaon has an estimated 50,000 stray dogs but only two operational shelters, each with a capacity of 50 animals, and two more under Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023, which require sterilised dogs to be returned to their original locations, have meant that large-scale shelter infrastructure was never Ghaziabad, the last census counted 48,000 stray dogs. Noida's situation is more severe -- with no official census, estimates put the stray population as high as 1.5 lakh, but the city has only four private shelters. In the past seven months alone, Noida has reported 73,754 street dog bite is 100% preventable if victims receive prompt and complete post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). Yet, India's combination of a vast stray population, patchy vaccination coverage, and poor public awareness continues to keep death rates Centre has pledged to eliminate rabies by 2030, aligning with global health goals. But with millions of dog bites annually and a fatality burden vastly underreported, experts warn that bridging the gap between policy and practice will require sustained vaccination campaigns, strict stray control measures, and public education inputs from ToI
Indian Express
a day ago
- Indian Express
Lumpy skin disease: 339 cattle dead in 5 districts of Maharashtra, 93% vaccination completed
As many as 9,8230 cattle have been affected by the latest outbreak of the lumpy skin disease in Maharashtra, resulting in the death of 339 of them, according to the Animal Husbandry department, which has claimed vaccination of 93 per cent of the state's cattle population against the disease. The viral disease is characterised by the development of skin nodules on various parts of the animal's body, including the head, neck, limbs, udder, and genitals, along with discharge from the eyes and nose. The disease also causes mobility issues in animals and a drastic reduction in milk production among the cattle. While those that survive develop lifelong immunity, vaccination is the only effective way to protect the cattle population from the lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV). Pravinkumar Deore, Commissioner of Animal Husbandry, said they have begun vaccinating calves as well. 'The animals in Maharashtra have almost achieved herd immunity. We are now focusing on the few strays that may have missed vaccination,' he said. The present outbreak is now centred around Pune, Satara, Solapur, Ahilyanagar and Jalgaon districts of Maharashtra. The Animal Husbandry department has stated that, unlike previous outbreaks, this one is much milder and is restricted to only certain pockets. Previously, it was believed that maternal immunity was transmitted during pregnancy in animals, but the department has now begun mass immunisation of calves as well. Lumpy Skin Disease was almost alien to India until 2019, when outbreaks occurred in several districts of Odisha. In 2023, lumpy skin disease led to the death of over 8,000 cattle in India. Rajasthan and Gujarat were epicentres of the disease back then. The Centre then directed state governments to undertake mass-scale immunisation of animals using the vaccines available in the market. Meanwhile, Maharashtra is set to become the first state in the country to develop its own vaccine for the disease, named Lumpi-ProVac. This vaccine is currently being developed at the Animal Husbandry department's institute in Aundh. 'The vaccine is in its trial stage, and we expect commercial rollout to begin in December,' said Deore. —-
