Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday flagged of a caravan that would campaign about the benefits of the newly launched Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana.

The state government has launched the scheme on August 15 out of its own funds and shunned the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat Yojana launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Jharkhand on September 23. On September 22, during his visit to Odisha, Modi appealed to the state government to be part of the programme. However, Naveen ignored the Centre’s plea and went ahead with the state’s own programme.

Health minister Pratap Jena said that under the Biju scheme, stress had been laid on the universal health care and special attention had been given to health care for the poor. Free heath care will be given to people irrespective of caste, creed, race, income and residence at health sub centres up to the level of district headquarter hospitals.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik flags off the health scheme in Bhubaneswar on Thursday. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Besides, assured heath care benefits up to Rs 7 lakh will be provided to women and Rs 5 lakh to men belonging to 70 lakh economically weaker section families. All the families eligible under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, Biju Krushak Kalyan Yojana and the Odisha State Treatment Fund have been included under the Biju health scheme, said he. “Already free heath care has been provided to 45 lakh beneficiaries within the first month of the inception of the scheme on August 15,” he said. On the other hand, 61 lakh families of Odisha were estimated to be included under the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, under which health insurance facilities up to Rs 5 lakh will be given to each beneficiary family, official sources said.

On Thursday, Naveen flagged off a fleet of 10 vehicles designed like chariots. In the first phase, the vehicles will cover 10 districts — Ganjam, Khurda, Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Kalahandi, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Koraput, Cuttack and Balangir. In the subsequent phases, such vehicles will be sent to other districts.

Audiovisual systems have been fitted with the vehicles to spread the message of the scheme’s benefits. Besides, cultural troupes will highlight its features through folk art medium. The district folk art associations, block-level associations and urban associations will be roped in to spread awareness about the scheme.