YSR Aarogyasri gets much-needed overhaul, now cover 2059 medical ailments

Amaravati: Breathing life into the healthcare system, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy made YSR Aarogyasri a standard prescription for the medical needs of the people expanding its scope and reach while dusting out the accumulated allergies of the previous government.

He launched the Naadu-Nedu programme to modernise the government hospitals and has given the nod for setting up of 10,000 YSR Health Clinics at village level while YSR Telemedicine became a big hit.

With medicare finding a place of pride in the manifesto and the thumping mandate in 2019 elections, Jagan Mohan Reddy took up the YSR Aarogyasri in the right earnest.

He made the scheme applicable to all ailments whose treatment costs Rs 1,000 or above and extended it to major cities like Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru besides providing allowance during post-surgery period as recommended by the surgeon, pensions to people with chronic diseases and a fleet of 108 ambulance vehicles are ready to take off.

YSR Aarogyasri will cover 2,059 medical ailments. The number was increased from the previous 1,059 diseases. Aarogyasri services have been extended to 130 hospitals in Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bengaluru in 17 super-specialty departments for 716 medical procedures. The state allocated Rs 1,740 crore for the first year towards YSR Aarogyasri.

Besides free treatment, financial assistance of Rs 225 per day or Rs 5,000 per month will be given to the patient during the recovery period, which is a unique feature. In addition, Rs 10,000 will be given to those undergoing dialysis and suffering from a critical illness, while a pension amount of Rs 5,000 will be given to physically-challenged persons. A financial assistance of Rs 5,000 would be given to chronic kidney patients and Rs 3,000 for those with leprosy.

YSR Kanti Velugu is the other health initiative that had the foresight and great vision on part of Jagan Mohan Reddy. Scheduled to be carried out in six phases, in the first two phases screening, minor sight corrections and distribution of spectacles free of cost for school children was carried out and it has drawn good response. The third phase of screening was done to the elderly people.

The initiative aims at rectifying the vision defects of over 5 crore people in the state. The programme is being implemented in six phases spread over three years. Under Phase-I, 66,15,467 students of 60,401 schools were covered. In the preliminary screening, 4,36,979 children were identified with eye problems. In the second phase, 1,34,252 children with vision defects were identified for the distribution of spectacles and advanced treatments.

The third phase of Kanti Velugu was also launched. Naadu-Nedu programme for government hospitals was launched to revamp them and bring them to national standards in three years. The state would invest Rs 16,203 crore on revamping the hospitals and medical colleges across the state, while 10, 000 YSR Clinics will be set up soon at village level. The state government laid proposals to start seven super-specialty hospitals in tribal regions and six medical colleges with attached institutions.

Besides these, 15 more new medical colleges and nursing colleges along with the multi-specialty institutions have been proposed.

YSR Telemedicine is the latest initiative in the times of corona lockdown. People in medical need call the toll-free number and the doctor interacts with the patient and sends the prescription and if required, the medicines are home delivered.