65 new medical procedures added under Arogyasri in Telangana

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, the finance minister, on Saturday released Rs 497.29 crore to Aarogyasri scheme to meet enhanced cost of treatment packages.

The newly added 65 medical procedures pertain to angiogram, Parkinson's disease, spinal cord related ailments under the Arogyasri.

Bhatti held a meeting at the Secretariat on Saturday to discuss and consider adding new medical treatments and for revision of financial packages to the existing treatments under the free health insurance scheme.

The Arogyasri scheme was introduced in 2007 by the then Congress government of Chief Minister Y.S. Rajashekar Reddy to provide quality medical treatment to the poor free of cost at private hospitals.

There are 2.84 crore beneficiaries under the scheme. The newly formed Congress government led by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy enhanced the Aarogyasri coverage limit from `5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh in December 2023.

The scheme is implemented through 1,402 hospitals in the state and presently 1,672 medical treatments for various diseases and health problems were included under the Arogyasri scheme.

The Deputy CM in the meeting took the decision to enhance the package cost of 1,375 treatments out of 1,672 offered under the scheme as per the recommendation of medical experts.

Another 98 medical treatments included under the Centre's Ayushman Bharat were also added under Aarogyasri, the government will have to bear an additional expenditure of Rs 189.83 crore. The additional burden on account of 65 new medical treatments will be Rs 158.2 crore.

In view of the above decisions of enhancement of package cost for existing treatments and addition of new treatments, Deputy CM sanctioned Rs 497.29 crore in the meeting.