Govt rejects Opposition charge on Karunya fund

Thiruvananthapuram: Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac Friday dimissed as baseless, the charge of the Opposition Congress that the CPI(M) headed LDF government planned to abandon the Karunya health scheme, conceived and implemented by the previous Congress led UDF regime.

"There was no circumstance that warranted a natural death to the Karunya Benevolent Fund, the health scheme aimed at financing treatment expenses for poor people.Government has no plan to stop the scheme under the Fund," he told reporters.

Isaac said an amount of Rs 389 crore was sanctioned under the scheme to 29,270 patients till December 31 2016

He pointed out that the Finance Department had alloted an additional Rs 100 crore towards the Fund on February 9.

Earlier in the day, KPCC President V M Sudheeran had alleged that the government planned to stop the scheme and said it was condemnable.

"The Karunya Fund that extends treatment expenses to thousands of poor and Sukrutham scheme that provides care to cancer patients was actually a model to other states. It is cruel to abandon such schemes and push the hapless poor patients to sufferings", he said.

The KPCC President demanded that the state government retract its move to stop the scheme.