By Kajal Rajput
Patna: Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot announced on Monday that the ‘Rajasthan model of health care’ will be replicated in Bihar if the INDIA bloc comes to power following the upcoming assembly polls this year.The former Rajasthan chief minister came up with the promise at a press conference in Sadaqat Ashram, the BPCC headquarters, where AICC in-charge for Bihar Krishna Allavaru and state Congress president Rajesh Kumar were also present.Gehlot claimed that under his rule, Rajasthan bore witness to an “unparalleled health model” wherein “cent per cent people” got the benefit of free medical insurance cover, unlike the Centre鈥檚 Ayushman Bharat scheme, which “caters to only a segment of the population”, news agency PTI reported.Also Read:Bihar Surgeon Threatened with Rs 20 lakh Extortion Call”The Rajasthan Right to Health Act guaranteed free tests, treatment and medicines to each and every family. No other state has such a health model. If we come to power in Bihar, it will be replicated here,” said the Congress leader, whose party is INDIA bloc’s second largest constituent in the eastern state, where the coalition includes the RJD and the Left.He also voiced concern over the 鈥渓ack鈥 of medical facilities in Bihar, pointing out that 鈥60 per cent posts of doctors are vacant. The state government has not even been able to spend the budgetary allocation for health. Out of Rs 69,790 crore spent between 2016 and 2022, the state could utilise only Rs 21,743 crore. The will to ensure good governance is obviously lacking here鈥.Speaking on the occasion, Allavaru alleged that “the so-called double engine government in Bihar is actually a trouble engine. It has brought here the Gujarat model of question paper leak, which is playing havoc with the future of the state鈥檚 youth”.Recalling the 17-month-long alliance with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar that ended last year, Allavaru claimed “more than three lakh people got government jobs during that period and there was not a single instance of paper leak”.”Therefore, Bihar is yearning for a change. Change will happen in the upcoming assembly elections,” asserted the AICC in-charge of the state.Also Read:Retired NMCH Nurse, Daughter shot dead outside home