Ahmedabad: Aggressively pushing its campaign in the poll-bound Gujarat, the Opposition Congress on Tuesday announced a slew of sops including a free health coverage plan for middle class families if the party is voted to power.
The scheme promising the coverage of health expenses to the tune of Rs 2 lakh is the part of the Congress` 12-point `Gujarat People Development Vision-2012`.
The different health-related measures were announced by the state unit Congress president Arjun Modhwadia accompanied by opposition leader Shaktisinh Gohil and chairman of election campaign committee Shankarsinh Vaghela at a press conference.
Modhvadia said if Congress won the Assembly polls, due by year-end, it would constitute Gujarat Medical Service Corporation (GMSC) on lines of Rajasthan to facilitate affordable medicine to the people.
"Moreover, about 250 essential and 50 life saving drugs as suggested by the World Health Organisation (WHO) would be provided free of cost," he said.
"We also promise free health coverage for upto Rs 2 lakh (Rs 1.50 lakh towards surgical expenses and Rs 50,000 as additional expenses) for every middle class family....About 70 per cent reduction in their medical expenditure and increase the per capita health expenditure in the state beyond the national expenditure," Modhvadia added.
The leaders also alleged that Modi government in its rule of 17 years "ignored" the health of the common people and instead worked in a manner to "get the corporate entities in the pink of health".
"If we compare the important human development indicators of Gujarat with other states, we can pick the holes in `universal development` theory of this Modi government," they said.
According to Congress, Gujarat is ranked 8th in life expectancy, 7th in infant death ratio and 8th in Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in human development index.
PTI
