BSKY beneficiaries can avail of GJAY scheme: Mahaling

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Health and Family Welfare Minister Mukesh Mahaling said all Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) beneficiaries will continue to get benefits under the new health scheme Gopabandhu Jan Arogya Yojana (GJAY). The minister on Saturday said the GJAY, the new health scheme of the BJP government in Odisha, will be initiated after the appropriation bill for the 2024-25 budget is passed in the Assembly in September.

He said people will continue to get benefits of the existing BSKY health scheme till the new scheme GJAY is implemented in a phased manner. While presenting the budget for the 2024-25 in the Assembly, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi had announced that the BSKY will be replaced by the GJAY.

Mahaling said the BSKY beneficiaries will continue to avail the facilities in all government and private hospitals for now.

He said the government is taking all steps in this direction.

The State government has allocated Rs 5,450 crore in the budget for GJAY, which is set to replace the BSKY health scheme launched by the previous BJD regime.

Over 96.50 families, including both BPL and APL families in the State, are availing the benefits of the BSKY. The beneficiaries are getting cashless treatment to the people under BSKY.

The minister also said that steps will be taken to make available anti-rabies vaccine in all hospitals and medical colleges across the State. Arrangements will also be made for vaccinating stray dogs through joint efforts by the Housing and Urban Development and Health departments, he said. The aim is to eliminate rabies in the State as the Centre has launched the National Action Plan for Dog Mediated Rabies Elimination (NAPRE)

by 2030.