Telangana Govt. to pay pension to filaria patients

Scheme to be included in budget for the next financial year

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has announced the State government’s decision to give pension of ₹1,000 a month to patients suffering from lymphatic filariasis (filaria).

The Chief Minister wanted the officials concerned to conduct a comprehensive survey to assess the exact number of patients suffering from filaria and asked them to make arrangements for treating the patients identified. Over 47,000 filaria patients in different parts of the State stand to benefit from the scheme from the next financial year.

The Chief Minister assured that the new scheme would be included in the budget for the next financial year and necessary allocations would be made accordingly. The decision comes in the light of representations made by Roads and Buildings Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao and Nizamabad MP Kalvakuntla Kavitha that several people in their respective constituencies were suffering from the ailment and they needed support from the government.

Salary hike

Mr. Rao, who reviewed the functioning of the Medical Health department on Friday, directed the officials to prepare action plan to utilise the services of medical staff at the village level effectively. The government would also enhance the salaries of second ANMs in addition to the enhancement promised to ASHA workers.

In addition, diagnostic tests would be offered to people at the village level with the government bearing the expenditure. The Chief Minister expressed concern that people seldom go for diagnostic tests here, making it difficult to identify the disease in the primary stages. The department officials should educate people on the need to opt for tests as early diagnosis would help in preventing the disease.

The government had therefore decided to ensure conduct of tests on a regular basis and the officials concerned should accordingly design a scheme in this direction. Mr. Rao said the KCR Kits scheme had significant impact in that unnecessary operations had been controlled to a large extent. The efforts of the doctors in particular were laudable in the success of the scheme and the government would provide incentives to them.