ASHA, Anganwadi workers get free treatment in interim Budget 2024

The interim Budget 2024 was presented on Thursday. Due to the upcoming elections, people had high expectations from the budget. However, the government has not made any major announcements. Residents are somewhat disappointed with the budget. Most people did not find any guarantee of happiness in the budget. Let’s find out how many guarantees of happiness people got in the budget and which guarantees they missed out on.

The first guarantee was to increase the insurance cover of Ayushman Yojana from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 to 15 lakh per family so that expenses for serious diseases like organ transplants and cancer can be covered. This involves a cost of at least Rs 10 to 15 lakh. The third guarantee was to expand the scope of the Ayushman Yojana, and the fourth guarantee was to improve services in primary health centers.

Although, the interim budget has expanded the scope of the Ayushman Bharat scheme, including Asha workers and helpers. Now, under this scheme, Asha and Anganwadi workers and helpers, along with their families, will get free treatment up to Rs 5 lakh. Additionally, the budget allocation for the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana has been increased from Rs 7,200 crore to 7,500 crore.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated in the budget speech that the government will establish more medical colleges under the existing hospital infrastructure so that more students can prepare for MBBS. After completing MBBS, they will contribute to health services. This could fulfill peoples’ desire for good doctors in the coming years. Now, all of peoples’ hopes are pinned on the budget likely to come in July.