Free KSRTC travel for cancer patients to any hospital: Kerala Govt
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): The Kerala government on Thursday announced a new scheme providing free travel for cancer patients on KSRTC buses for treatment-related travel to any hospital in the state.
State Transport Minister K B Ganesh Kumar made the announcement in the Assembly, saying the scheme covers all Kerala State Road Transport Corporation services from ordinary to superfast buses.
"This initiative improves upon the 2012 government order, which allowed a 50 per cent travel concession on KSRTC ordinary and city service buses in the state capital for cancer patients visiting the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC)," he said.
"Here we are providing free travel from anywhere in Kerala to any hospital in the state for cancer treatment on buses up to superfast service. The patient has to produce a certificate from the treating doctor about the duration of the treatment, and a pass will be issued waiving the travel fare," the minister added.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan welcomed the initiative in a Facebook post, describing it as an example of the Kerala development model of welfare that includes everyone.
He said it was one of several measures taken by the government to provide relief to cancer patients.
The minister said the scheme was introduced as KSRTC had improved its revenue, reduced losses, and increased passenger numbers through various initiatives. "As the KSRTC improves its financial position, we felt it was important that the people also benefit from it," he said.
Kumar noted that initiatives such as AC waiting rooms in bus stations, ensuring cleanliness and proper waste management in buses and stations, and installation of CCTV cameras for the safety of women and children had helped attract more passengers to KSRTC.
He also highlighted other measures, including issuance of smart cards for student travel concessions valid for 2-3 years, handing over maintenance of toilets in KSRTC bus stations to Sulabh Society, adding around 360 more buses to the fleet, and renovating bus stations.
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ASHA workers threaten indefinite strike from Feb 27 over rationalisation order, pending demands
Bengaluru: ASHA workers in Karnataka have warned of launching an indefinite strike from February 27, protesting a health department order to rationalise the workforce and alleging that long-pending demands have not been addressed.
The Karnataka State Joint ASHA Workers’ Association criticised the department’s decision to increase the population assigned to each ASHA worker, arguing that it violates existing norms and would lead to large-scale job losses. According to current norms, one ASHA worker is assigned for every 1,000 individuals. Under the current rationalisation plan, the allotted population in rural regions has been increased to up to 2,000, while in metropolitan areas with populations more than 50,000, the number has been raised from 1,000 to a minimum of 2,500 and a maximum of 3,000.
Deccan Herald quoted D Nagalakshmi, state secretary of the ASHA Union affiliated to AITUC, as saying the department had conveyed that an honorarium of ₹10,000 could not be ensured unless the population coverage per worker was increased. She alleged that workers were effectively being asked to accept higher workloads while excess ASHAs would be removed. “This would render nearly 7,000 to 8,000 ASHA workers jobless, and such a move is being carried out only in Karnataka,” she said.
At present, the state government pays ASHA workers a monthly honorarium of ₹5,000, while the Centre provides performance-based incentives. Workers said accessing these incentives has become difficult as data must be entered on the ASHA portal by primary health community officers, but vacancies in these posts have not been filled.
The workers have also submitted a set of pre-Budget demands, seeking an increase in the combined state and central incentives to ₹15,000 and enhancement of the state honorarium to ₹ 8,000, in line with promises made in the Congress election manifesto. Other demands include a lump-sum retirement benefit on the lines of West Bengal, creation of a corpus fund to meet treatment expenses of ASHA workers suffering from serious illnesses with reimbursement provisions, and payment of a fixed monthly honorarium for up to three months during recovery from severe illness.
ASHA workers had staged an indefinite protest in January over similar issues. On the fourth day of the agitation, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah intervened and assured the workers that their demands would be met.
