The State government on Thursday announced monetary aid for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes patients who are suffering from rare diseases that require expensive surgeries.
While several diseases are currently being covered under Ayushman Bharat Arogya Karnataka (AB-ArK) health insurance scheme, certain rare diseases that require expensive surgeries are not under the scheme hitting patients hard.
Health and Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar said as there is no facility to provide treatment in government hospitals, monetary aid will be provided by the State through Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust (SAST) using unspent SCSP/TSP fund allocation.
“Currently, a total of ₹23.18 crore of unspent allocations exist and this will be used to fund this new scheme. The government will provide ₹10,000 for PET Scan, ₹7 lakh and ₹21 lakh for Autologous and Allogeneic bone marrow transplant, respectively, and ₹1.5 lakh for robotic surgeries. A Government Order to this effect has been issued on Thursday,” he said.
