The Hindu : Karnataka News : Yeshasvini yet to make inroads

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Friday, Aug 17, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Yeshasvini yet to make inroads

Vishwa Kundapura

About 1,600 ailments are covered under the Government-sponsored scheme

About 50 per cent of the subscription fee is borne by the cooperative society
Only 20 per cent of the cooperative members are enrolled under Yeshasvini in Kolar

KOLAR: The low success rate of “Yeshasvini”, a healthcare scheme, is an example of how a novel project will not reach the beneficiaries because of lack of publicity and people were not motivated to avail the benefits.

Yeshasvini is a cooperative farmers’ health protection scheme launched by the State Government for the benefit of the poor, particularly farmers enrolled in various cooperative societies. The Government had fixed Rs. 120 as annual membership fee to encourage farmers to become members and avail the benefits.

Of this, half the amount would be paid by milk producers’ cooperative societies and Kolar Milk Union Ltd. (KoMUL). A shareholder of any cooperative society enjoy one more advantage. All his or her dependents can get the membership of Yeshasvini.

Members can avail benefit of up to Rs. 1 lakh in case of one surgery and Rs. 2 lakh in case of two surgeries in one year. Nearly 1,600 ailments and treatments, including operations related to eyes, nose, throat, nerves, heart, kidney, bones and so on were brought under the purview of this scheme.

Dog bites, snakebites, electric shock, childbirth, and healthcare of a new-born are covered. Besides surgeries, all the medical charges till the patient was discharged from the hospital is borne by the trust set up for the scheme.

The Government has recognised several hospitals in each district for extending the scheme. Those covered under Yeshasvini scheme can get treatment in any of these hospitals and the Government will reimburse the money to them.

Despite all these advantages, the success rate of the scheme throughout the State has been low. A case study of Kolar district throws ample light on the issue. Although the district could take the credit of being first in enrolling membership for the scheme, it lags behind in making the scheme a big success.

There are 7.60 lakh members in 2,431 cooperative societies in the district. Among them, only 1,45,756 have enrolled for Yeshasvini. The membership in the district in 2005-06 was 1,27,932. Of these, 86,876 people have renewed the membership in 2006-07 and 58,880 new members have been enrolled. Twenty-two hospitals in the district have been attached with the Yeshasvini scheme. Last year, Rs. 2.37 crore was spent on 2,858 beneficiaries in the district, sources said.

Only recently, Deputy Registrar of Cooperatives has detached four hospitals in the district from the scheme on technical grounds. Prestigious Devraj Urs Medical College Hospital is of these four hospitals.

The detachment evoked sharp reaction from public. The authorities should warn the hospitals and give them a chance to improve, said P.R. Sooryanarayan, a farmer’s leader. Cutting the service in nearby hospitals would put the ‘Yeshasvini’ subscribers to hardship.

District in-charge Minister R. Srinivas had assured the beneficiaries that efforts would be made to reinstate all the four detached hospitals. Officials would be instructed not to create unnecessary problems.

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