UP polls: BJP seeks to make healthcare an election pitch as Yogi govt expands cashless treatment

New Delhi: The ruling BJP is seeking to pitch healthcare as an election issue in the run-up to next year's assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, with the state government extending cashless medical treatment facilities to various groups of people as part of this strategy. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has announced family-inclusive cashless medical treatment facilities for a section of teachers, jawans of Prantiya Rakshak Dal (PRD), cooks, Anganwadi workers and helpers.

The Mukhyamantri Shikshak Cashless Chikitsa Suvidha Yojana, launched by the state government in July, covers more than 128,000 teachers working in universities, aided non-government colleges, self-financed courses and self-financed colleges under the Higher Education Department, along with their dependent family members. Each eligible family, covered under the scheme, will receive health coverage of up to ₹5 lakh per year.

Expenses related to hospitalisation, treatment, medicines and discharge at empanelled government and private hospitals will be covered under the scheme. It is applicable to more than 1,900 treatment packages, covering serious illnesses such as cancer, heart disease and kidney-related ailments. In August, the CM announced the Mukhyamantri PRD Cashless Chikitsa Yojana, under which more than 31,000 volunteers of Prantiya Rakshak Dal and their families will be eligible for cashless treatment of up to ₹5 lakh per year.


The benefits will be available to PRD volunteers at government and government-empanelled hospitals. Cooks who prepare meals for children under the PM Poshan Yojana in council schools were recently granted cashless medical facilities in the state. Adityanath recently announced an increase of ₹1,000 per month in their honorarium along with cashless treatment of up to Rs 5 lakh for them and their families.

Similarly, the state government brought Anganwadi workers and helpers under the ambit of this healthcare security initiative. Apart from increasing the honorarium of Anganwadi workers to ₹12,000 from ₹8,000 and that of helpers to ₹6,000 from ₹4,000, the CM announced cashless medical facilities of up to ₹5 lakh annually for them.