Aarogyasri will be replaced with a hybrid healthcare model, says A.P. Health Minister Satya Kumar Yadav

Aarogyasri will be replaced with a hybrid healthcare model, says A.P. Health Minister Satya Kumar Yadav. We will integrate the services of Dr. NTR Vaidya Seva Trust, Aayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, and the insurance companies with a view to providing better services to the poor, he says. He stresses the need for more dialysis centres in the State. The Minister inaugurates the Lions Pinakini dialysis centre set up by the Bayya Venkataramanaiah Sarojinamma Memorial Subhamastu Foundation, in association with the Lions International Foundation.

The Government of Andhra Pradesh will integrate the services of the Dr. NTR Vaidya Seva Trust, Aayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), and the health insurance companies to bring a hybrid healthcare model in place of the Aarogyasri Health Care Trust, Minister for Health Satya Kumar Yadav told The Hindu on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Lions Pinakini dialysis centre here on August 9 (Friday).

“The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) leaders are spreading rumours against the NDA coalition government in the State that Aarogyasri will be repealed, even as we are planning to provide better healthcare services to the poor. We are exploring the possibility of offering ₹25 lakh health insurance policy,” Mr. Satya Kumar said.

“More than 1.43 crore households are availing of the services of the Dr. NTR Vaidya Seva Trust and over 60 lakh households are deriving benefit from the Aayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. Apart from these, we are also trying to provide tertiary healthcare through free health insurance policy to everyone in the State,” the Minister said.

Speaking about the need for more dialysis centres in the State, Mr. Satya Kumar alleged that the former Chief Minister, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, was responsible for the rise in the number of kidney and liver diseases among the people during the last three to four years due to consumption of spurious liquor brands introduced by the YSRCP government.

“Nearly 11,000 patients are undergoing dialysis in the State, and out of them 1,200 are from Nellore. As kidney diseases are common in Podalakur and Vinjamur mandals, we want to set up dialysis centres here very soon. I request the donors to come forward in establishing more dialysis centres,” he said.

The Bayya Venkataramanaiah Sarojinamma Memorial Subhamastu Foundation, in association with the Lions International Foundation, arranged a six-bed free dialysis centre at A.C. Subbareddy Government General Hospital in Nellore at a cost of approximately ₹84 lakh. They are planning to add four more beds at the centre with another ₹40 lakh over the next few months.

Bayya Ravi Kumar from the Subhamastu Foundation said his mother Sarojinamma had died due to kidney disease, and that he took the initiative to set up the dialysis centre to prevent such deaths, at least to some extent, in Nellore.