Hyderabad, Oct.21 (NSS): Telangana Union of Working Journalists (TUWJ) today urged State Medical, Health & Family Welfare Minister C Damodar Rajanarasimha to take steps for the implementation of Journalists health scheme in all corporate hospitals in the State. It said the journalists were facing difficulties due to the poor implementation of the Journalists’ Health Scheme (JHS) for the last five years.
On Tuesday, TUWJ delegation led by its State president Virahat Ali met Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha and State Health & Family Welfare Department Director R V Karnan at the Aarogyasri office in Banjara Hills and discussed about the implementation of the journalists’ health scheme.
Speaking on the occasion, Virahat Ali said while the previous BRS government had introduced the EJHS scheme for government employees as well as the journalists and issued health cards, the scheme worked properly till 2019. “The reasons are not known but for the last five years, the hospitals have been refusing the journalists health cards if they go to corporate hospitals for medical treatment,” he said. He also said in the last five years, nearly 300 journalists in the State died prematurely due to various accidents, covid-19 and various diseases.
He lamented that many journalists were taking loans and getting treatment due to the non-implementation of the scheme. He urged Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha to immediately revamp the health scheme and provide health security to the journalists. The TUWJ delegation met the minister included State deputy general secretary Kalkuri Ramulu, State secretaries Varkala Yadagiri and Kompalli Srikanth Reddy, State treasurer Mote Venkat Reddy, health committee convener A Rajesh and HUJ president Shiga Shankar Goud.
The minister assured the TUWJ delegation that there was no need for the journalists to worry about the health scheme and added that a high-level departmental meeting would be convened soon to discuss the issue of the strict implementation of the health scheme for government employees as well as the journalists. He said the State government was considering to run the scheme either through the trust or through third-party agencies.
