Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar on Thursday announced monetary aid for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) patients in the state suffering from diseases categorised as "rare diseases" and "high-cost diseases".

He said the monetary aid would be given for rare and high cost diseases that are not covered under the Centre's 'Ayushman Bharat' scheme.

"Aid for several types of diseases is currently being provided under the Ayushman Bharat Arogya Karnataka scheme. However, certain rare and high cost diseases are not covered under the Ayushman Bharat scheme," the minister said.

"For such diseases where there is no facility to provide treatment in government hospitals, monetary aid will be provided by the state through Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust using unspent SCSP/TSP fund allocation," Sudhakar added.

He said currently a total of Rs 23.18 crore of unspent allocation exists and it will be used to fund this new scheme.

"The government will provide Rs 10,000 for PET Scan, Rs 7 lakh and Rs 21 lakh for autologous and allogeneic bone marrow transplant respectively and Rs 1.5 lakh for robotic surgeries," he added.

The Health Minister further said the Karnataka government under the leadership of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is building upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of helping the poor and vulnerable through the Ayushman Bharat scheme.

Patients who belong to the SC/ST communities will be greatly benefitted with the aid as it is being extended to even rare and high cost diseases, he added.

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Kolkata, Apr 12 (PTI): The Waqf (Amendment) Act will not be implemented in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Saturday amid violent protests in the state.

Banerjee said the law was made by the Centre and answers should be sought from it.

"My sincere appeal to people of all religions, please remain calm, remain restrained. Do not engage in any irreligious behaviour in the name of religion. Every human life is precious; do not incite riots for the sake of politics. Those who are inciting riots are harming society," she said in a post on X.

Several vehicles, including police vans, were set on fire, stones were hurled at security forces, and roads were blocked as violence rocked Malda, Murshidabad, South 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts during protests over the new legislation on Friday.

"Remember, we did not make the law over which many are agitated. The law was made by the central government. So the answer you want should be sought from the central government," the CM said.

"We have made our position clear on this matter -- we do not support this law. This law will not be implemented in our state. So what is the riot about," she asked.

Banerjee said legal action will be taken against those inciting riots.

"We do not condone any violent activity. Some political parties are trying to misuse religion for political gain. Do not give in to their persuasion," she said.

"I think religion means humanity, goodwill, civilisation and harmony. I appeal to everyone to maintain peace and harmony," she added.