Swasthya Sathi Healthcare Scheme is at the top of demand. Image Courtesy – swasthyasathi.gov.in
Swasthya Sathi Healthcare Scheme is at the top of demand after getting started from December 1, 2020, at various districts in West Bengal.
The age of the Swasthya Sathi healthcare program has started barely 5 days. It is showing that most of the districts including South 24 Parganas are attended with consumers in the government camp of the ‘Duare Sarkar’ Programme. The ‘Duare Sarkar’ Programme has been launched by the Government of West Bengal and the government officials have been organizing camps in several districts.
The lowest attendance was at the Kalimpong camp. A total of 8,37,282 people in the state have contacted the camp till last Thursday for the program which started on December 1, 2020. The Swasthya Sathi healthcare project was ahead in terms of demand. The number of applications submitted is more than the number of self-help group loans.
There are currently 22,515 camps running across the state. According to administrative sources, ordinary people are applying for 35 types of services in the camp. In the last four days, more than 1500 people came to the camp in South 24 Parganas asking for several services. Bankura is after South 24 Parganas. The number of attendees so far was more than 6,500. More than 65,000 people have contacted in the camps of North 24 Parganas.
Attendance at camps in Murshidabad, Nadia, East and West Midnapore ranged from 72,000 to 55,000 people. At least 50,000 people reached in East Burdwan district, 43,000 people in Howrah district, 32,000 people in Hooghly district, 30,000 people in Purulia district and 26,000 people in Birbhum district have sought services in those camps. At least 20,000 people have applied for the services in North Dinajpur, Malda, Cooch Behar, West Burdwan and Jalpaiguri district.
In a special drive in North 24 Parganas, people connected to several projects of Municipality have been approaching door-to-door in several wards and supplying application form regarding Swasthya Sathi Healthcare Scheme.
The number of people attended in Kolkata was 13,600. The number of people attended in the ‘Duare Sarkar’ camps in Alipurduar, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, South Dinajpur and Jhargram is less than 10,000.
It may happen because many people are not aware of the schemes. As the people are getting aware of the Swasthya Sathi Healthcare Scheme, they are getting interested to apply.
Swasthya Sathi Healthcare Scheme is at the top of the service demand. More than 5,978 applications have been submitted for this project. According to administrative sources, the demand is highest as the healthcare project is open to all. The number of applications for ‘Khadya Sathi’ Scheme (food partner project services) was likely 94,743. More than 6,000 applications have been submitted for the 100-day work project.
Nearly 35,446 applications were submitted for caste certificate. Nearly 31,000 applications were submitted for Old Age Pension Scheme, 26,000 applications for Krishak Bandhu Scheme and about 11,000 applications for Bangla Awas Yojana. The number of applications for social pension, scholarship, ration, land, agricultural loan, widow allowance is within the range of 10,000. A number of employment-related applications were near about 909. There are various applications submitted for toilets, police and roads also.
Due to overcrowding and protests, the ‘Duare Sarkar’ Programme (government at the doorstep) in Barasat was disrupted. Crowds have been gathering in a specific ward in Barasat since morning. As the day progressed, thousands of people gathered and at the mid of the day, there was a huge crowd. Most of the people came to register for Swasthya Sathi Healthcare Project. Due to the pressure of the crowd, social distancing rule due to COVID-19 pandemic could not be possible to maintain there.
Allegedly, the BJP workers and supporters started protest also. The protesters questioned why there was a single camp for the 25,000 people of four wards. The police and the government workers had to struggle to cope with the crowd and the situation got out of control. As a result of that, the camp had to be closed. It was announced on behalf of the government that the Swasthya Sathi healthcare program would be arranged at home in smaller areas to avoid a chaotic situation like this.
