Recently, government has started targeting the BPL communities that form a large part of the voting population in its preparations for the forthcoming elections in 2014. They have been raining special facilities for them. The latest announcement had pointed its needle towards the healthcare facilities. Government has planned to make the treatment of mental disorders and diabetes free at public super specialty hospitals like AIIMS, free of charge.

This comes only a day after the government has announced a plan to donate mobile phones to all the impoverished families below the poverty line.

This facility was added to the Rashtriya Aroya Nidhi which erstwhile promised financial help to BPL families if they had been suffering from fatal diseases like Cancer only.

According to the plan each BPL family is eligible to gain up to Rs 1 Lakh for the treatment of mental disorders such as anxiety, depression and other personality disorders. In case of the treatment exceeding the mark of Rs 1.5 lakhs they would be referred to the DGHS for further consideration.

Diabetes was also included under RAN as it was a common disorder that affected over 50 million Indians already. The prevalence of the mental disorders is 7% that covers a population of 13 crore+ Indians. 90% cases are not yet treated while there is also a great deficit of the experts in the subjects in the country. Only one psychiatrist is available for a million people in the country.

(AW- Anil)