welfare scheme of west bengal ,‘Shishu Sathi’ Fund Central government (Central Government, Has stopped. Under this scheme, cardiac surgery is done for children aged 0-18 years. It is being said that due to not liking the name of this scheme, the Center has stopped the allocation. This has increased the problems of parents of sick children. At present, the State Secretariat has allocated about Rs 300 crore to continue the surgeries of children. The state health department has planned to link Shishu Sathi with Swasthya Sathi instead of relying on the central government for the treatment of children.
More than three thousand children in queue
The Health Ministry had started the ‘National Child Health Program’ in 2013 for the treatment of heart diseases in children. In the same year the state government started the ‘Shishu Sathi’ scheme. An official of Swasthya Bhawan said that the Health Ministry bears 60 percent of the cost of this scheme, the remaining amount is provided by the state government. The health department is conducting surgeries for children on PPP model with some private hospitals. If Shishu Sathi is linked to the Swasthya Sathi scheme, the children of the district will not have to visit government hospitals for treatment. Treatment can be done in any private hospital and medical college.
Nearly 28 thousand children were treated in the last 10 years.
Let us tell you that under this scheme in Bengal, about 28 thousand children have been treated in the last 10 years. Which is a record in the country. After this, Maharashtra stood second and Punjab stood third. On an average, 3,000 children undergo heart surgery every year in eight government hospitals of the state including NRS, SSKM, RGKar Medical College. Even the government bears the entire cost of treatment in private hospitals.
In the current financial year, parents of at least three and a half thousand children are waiting for surgery for their heart-related problems. Due to the withholding of funds by the Centre, these children are not being treated. An expert committee of the Finance and Health Department is investigating. Only after this the child partner will be linked to the health partner. The state health department has also sent a letter to the central government to receive the outstanding amount. But it doesn’t seem to be of any benefit.