The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the states of Delhi, Telangana, Odisha and West Bengal on a plea questioning non-implementation of the Union government's Ayushman Bharat scheme, meant for free treatment of various diseases, including Covid-19, due to political reasons.
A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian sought a response also from the Centre on a petition filed by advocate Shravan Kumar on behalf of Hyderabad-based BJP leader Perala Shekhar Rao.
The petitioner contended that the majority of states have been implementing the Ayushman Bharat scheme in addition to the state-level health insurance schemes for the benefit of the people.
"But due to political reasons, the states of Telangana, Delhi, West Bengal and Odisha are not doing it, resulting in great loss to the people," he said.
He sought a declaration of actions by four states as illegal, unconstitutional and contrary to Article 14 (equality) and 21 (right to life) of the Constitution.
Rao sought a direction to the Centre and the four states to frame a policy for the implementation of the Ayushman Bharat Scheme - Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana or provide the people with an option to choose the health schemes of state or central government, which provided treatment for Covid-19 and many other diseases in both government and private hospitals.
The National Health Authority has been issuing various directions starting from March 2020 to August with respect to the usage of the Ayushman Bharat Scheme for testing and treatment of Covid-19 pandemic.
As many as 16,039 hospitals, including 8,059 private facilities have been empanelled under the Ayushman Bharat Yojana across the country. The authority also fixed the rates for about 1,500 treatment procedures considering the expenses required for the treatment, hospitalisation, etc. About Rs 6,400 crore has been allotted in the Union Budget of 2020-21 for the implementation of the scheme across the country, the petition pointed out.