Thiruvananthapuram: The decision by Kerala government to discontinue a medical benevolent fund named Karunya, meaning mercy, has put tens of thousands of people suffering from critical illnesses.
The Karunya Benevolent Fund (KBF) has been replaced by a new health protection plan called Karunya Arogya Suraksha Paddhathi (KASP, under which a family gets health cover worth Rs 5 lakh a year). But the facility is only for inpatient treatment, not for expenses incurred by outpatients as well as for domiciliary care.
This means that patients suffering from diseases such as cancer, kidney failure, liver and neurological diseases, and haemophilia won't get any financial assistance for their treatment unless they are hospitalised.
Until the KASP came into effect on April 1, the state government provided financial assistance to patients undergoing treatment for serious illnesses even at home and there were a number of schemes to cover such cases. Cancer patients used to get up to Rs 5.70 lakh even if they were not hospitalised.
Most patients are treated as outpatients, which means they are prescribed medicines and sent home. But many of these medicines are very costly and under the new scheme they will not get any financial help. The new scheme has enrolled over 40 lakh members.
The maximum assistance allowed for heart patients under the new scheme is Rs 65,000 for one stent and Rs 97,000 for two. But, according to doctors, nearly a third of heart patients need to spend more for their treatment.
The KBF was launched by the previous United Democratic Front government. It was the brain child of the late Kerala Congress leader KM Mani during his tenure as Finance Minister for providing succour to hapless patients seeking specialist medical treatment. He found the resources for the scheme by holding special lottery under the Karunya series.
When the Left Democratic Front government headed by Pinarayi Vijayan assumed office, KM Mani’s scheme was discontinued, although beneficiaries continued to get financial assistance for some more time. The state government’s new health protection scheme is aligned with the Prime Minister’s Ayushman Bharat scheme.
The discontinuation of the benevolent fund has hit the beneficiaries of the old scheme really hard and such patients and their families are making a beeline to popular television channels with their harrowing stories of suffering.
By K RAVEENDRAN
