Mysore/Mysuru: Has the much-touted Ayushman Bharat- Arogya Karnataka Health Cards lost its sheen. It seems so looking at the indifference of the health authorities who are showing little eagerness for popularising the scheme through various awareness programmes and other publicity campaigns. 

With the second wave of the deadly pandemic causing great havoc, the health card has gained all the more importance.  Under this ambitious Government health scheme, BPL card holders who have registered for health card, will get an insurance cover of upto Rs. 5 lakh, while in the case of APL card holder beneficiaries, the Government will bear 30 percent of the total treatment cost in case of hospitalisation for any ailment. This health card is a boon to BPL card holders, when treatment cost is becoming increasingly unaffordable for the poor. But the registration for the scheme has been abruptly stopped for the past several months due to a mismatch between Common Service Centre and EDPS Directorate. The registration was being done at select Hospitals and KarnatakaOne Centres. But due to the outbreak of COVID-19, followed by lockdown, the bio-metrics has been disrupted, forcing the authorities to stop registrations.

As on Apr. 3 this year, the number of health card holders has not crossed even 20 percent of the State’s population, as only 1.43 crore of the 7.07 crore population has been covered by the scheme. While Udupi has topped the list by covering 64 percent of its population, Kodagu district comes second with a 58 percent coverage. None of the other districts of the State has crossed the 50 percent mark.