YSR lashes out at TDP on farmers' suicide

Vijayawada, Sep 27 (UNI) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy today alleged that the previous Telegu Desam Party (TDP) Government had not addressed the incidents of farmers' suicide in the state.

Speaking after launching the 'Rajiv Arogyasri' health scheme at a mega health camp here, he said farmers took the extreme step as they could not repay the money they borrowed from money lenders for getting treatment for major diseases.

The Chief Minister said his government has enhanced the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy to Rs 900 per quintal. But the previous TDP Government had increased the MSP only to Rs 600.

He said the 'Arogyasri' scheme would benefit 90 per cent of the poor in the Krishna district. The scheme would be a boon for them in getting their chronic diseases cured at the right time without any expenditure.

He said earlier, when farmers suffered from any major ailment, they had to go to the corporate hospitals and incur huge expenditure. Keeping in mind the plight of the poor people, the state government had introduced the 'Arogyasri' scheme in the state.

Under the scheme, all white card holders would get treatment for the 863 selected diseases in recognised corporate hospitals, he said, adding it was the first of its kind in the country.

The surgeries for different types of ailments costing less than Rs two lakh would be conducted at corporate hospitals, he added.

Dr Reddy said mobile health services would be implemented in the state. 104 mobile service vans would visit the villages, where primary health centres were more than three km away.

Andhra Pradesh Minister for Medical Education and Health Insurance Galla Aruna Kumari said so far the state government had implemented Rajiv Arogyasri in 22 districts.

So far 79,000 operations were performed under the scheme and the state government had spent Rs 283 crore towards it, she added.

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