Government to Give Free Medical Aid to Below Poverty Line People

Bangalore: Just like the government plans to gift mobile phone to each of the below poverty line family, the government is also making free treatment of people below poverty line suffering from mental disorders and diabetics, reports Kounteya Sinha of Times of India.

According to the reports, around 13 crore Indians are suffering from some form of mental illness like depression and anxiety syndromes to schizophrenia to psychosomatic disorders. The sad part is that over 90 percent remain untreated.

Union Minister Gulab Nabi Azad says that it is a matter of great concern that India has such a high number of mental disorders. He said that about 20 percent of all the patients seen by primary health care doctors have one or more mental disorders. The scheme that has till now provided financial assistance to all the BPL patients suffering from life-threatening diseases like cancer will now be providing free medical aid to people suffering from mental disorders.

An advance of Rs 10 lakh to Rs 40 lakh has been kept with medical institutes like Nimhans (Bangalore) AIIMS, Safdurgunj Hospital, Lady Hardinge Medical College (New Delhi), Gandhi Memorial and Associated Hospitals (Lucknow) and NEIGRIHMS (Shilliong) to enable immediate sanction of an amount up to Rs 1 lakh in each deserving case. All below poverty line patients suffering from mental disorders like depression would be given a free one-time grant of up to Rs 1 lakh for treatment.