After Dilip Ghosh, Purulia BJP MP Jyotirmay Singh Mahato’s family has also enrolled their name in TMC governement’s flagship Swasthya Sathi healthcare programme.

Mahato’s brother and his family stood in queue at a Duare Sarkar camp to get their Swasthya Sathi cards, reported Bengali daily Sangbad Pratidin.

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Mahato’s cousin brother Krittibas Mahato said, “All of us have taken the Swasthya Sathi cards. Why should we be deprived of government benefits?”

However, the Parliamentarian and his mother have reportedly stayed away from registering their names in the healthcare scheme.

The Bengal government has been providing benefits under ‘Swasthya Sathi’ since 2016. But the scheme has made headlines as a part of the state’s ‘Duare Sarkar’ initiative — a mass outreach programme for doorstep delivery of welfare benefits.

BJP, which has emerged as the main opposition party in West Bengal, has been a staunch critic of Swasthya Sathi, calling it an election stunt by Mamata Banerjee.

However, reports had emerged earlier that family of Dilip Ghosh – party’s president in West Bengal- also applied for the scheme.

Family of Medinipur MP’s brother Hirak Ghosh, who is BJP’s chief in Gopiballavpur’s Block number two, had collected their Swasthya Sathi card from the nearest Duare Sarkar camp.

Ghosh had called the scheme a bluff. He had alleged that the TMC-led West Bengal government did not have budget to materialise the claims made through the welfare programme.

“If out of the state’s 10 crore population even 5% seeks its benefits, it would cost the state’s exchequer of Rs 50,000 crore a year. But this year the state’s health budget is altogether Rs 12,000 crore. Where will money for Swasthya Sathi come from,” the BJP leader had said.

However, West Bengal health secretary Narayan Swarup Nigam had countered Ghosh by pointing at flaws in his numbers.

“First of all, 5% of the state’s population getting hospitalised is a highly exaggerated rate. Never do so many people get hospitalised at once. It may at most be around 1% of the population. And second, the national average for per person expenditure in hospitals is around Rs 15,000-Rs 20,000. So, it’s very much manageable and within our budget allocation,” The Wire had quoted Nigam as saying.

Ghosh had later changed his stanced and expressed wish to get himself covered by it.

“I’m not against Swasthya Sathi card. I’m against the fraudulent TMC government. If I get the chance, I’ll also apply for a Swasthya Sathi card,” he said.