Tata Group to come in aid of BPL people in Jharkhand

Kolkata, July 19 (UNI) The Tata Group, the Jharkhand government and three major corporate houses -- Birla, Essar and the Jindal group -- have initiated India's first Public-Private partnership to form the ''Sarva Swasthya Mission Trust'' for providing medical treatment for the people living below-poverty line.

According to informed sources here, the unique experiment based on a new concept of health security would provide health coverage and medical treatment to the poorest of the poor in the neighbouring state at an affordable cost, besides encouraging good private sector health services to reach out to the remote and rural areas.

Tata Group had confirmed its contribution of Rs 25 crore per annum for a period of thirty years to the newly formed Trust, while the Jharkhand Government had also committed to contribute substantially to this trust. The other corporate houses were also expected to confirm their contributions to the Trust corpus soon, the sources added.

The Sarva Swasthya Mission Trust will be independently operated by a Mission Management Group. This non-profit charitable Trust will function on the principles of Accessibility, Affordability, Availability and Accountability for the services offered to the state's BPL population.

With this scheme, the public and private sector will enhance their efficacy in the delivery of health services such as OPD, diagnosis, medicines, referral linkages, hospitalization and specialized treatment. The scheme will be far more efficient and have a wider range of coverage of medical services than any known health insurance scheme prevalent today.

Incidentally, Tata Steel having a state-of-the-art 5 mtpa plant at Jamshedpur had signed a MoU with the Jharkhand Government to set up a 12 mtpa Greenfield project in Seraikela- Kharshawan district of Jharkhand.

UNI ABA SJC MSJ RAI0925