Cuttack: The state government is mulling to merge the Odisha State Treatment Fund (OSTF) with its universal health coverage scheme Biju Swastya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) from February this year, sources said.
Sriram Chandra Bhanja Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) superintendent Saroj Kumar Sahu has written to private drugstore owners asking them to claim their pending dues under the OSTF by January 15, sources added.
Sahu informed the drugstore owners that the state government may take back the money sanctioned under the OSTF to SCBMCH by January 15.
Some senior doctors, meanwhile, opined that many poor patients would face difficulties in getting healthcare due to the discontinuation of the OSTF.
“The state government has not taken a final decision yet to merge OSTF with the BSKY. If it happens, then poor patients will get all healthcare facilities under the BSKY,” Sahu said.
It is worth mentioning here that the state government had introduced the OSTF in 2011 to provide financial assistance for the treatment of poor patients suffering from life threatening diseases.
Persons with annual income below Rs 40,000 in rural areas and below Rs 60,000 in urban areas are eligible for assistance from the OSTF. The scheme was introduced in three medical College and hospitals and all district headquarters hospitals (DHH) in state.
This apart, the state government had signed agreements with 14 private hospitals in Odisha and six from outside to provide healthcare to poor patients under the OSTF.
It is learnt that the authorities of SCBMCH had spent Rs 37.97 crores for 8,552 poor patients under the OSTF in 2017-18 financial year. Similarly, they had spent Rs 29.30 crore on 7,054 patients under the scheme in 2018-19 fiscal.
The hospital authorities have spent around Rs 15 crore for 3,731 poor patients under OSTF till December of the 2019-20 financial year.
