Lok Sabha Question No. 5561 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-04-04
Subject: Financial assistance for BPL Cancer Patient
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Shri Rajmohan Unnithan

## GOVERNMENTOFINDIA MINISTRYOF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENTOFHEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5561 TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.04.2025

## FINANCIALASSISTANCE FOR BPLCANCER PATIENT

## 5561. SHRI RAJMOHAN UNNITHAN :

Will the Minister of HEALTHANDFAMILYWELFARE be pleased to state:

(a) whether Government is providing financial assistance to cancer patients living below poverty line under Cancer Patient Fund;

(b) if so, the details thereof along with the procedure to seek financial assistance from the said fund; and

(c) the number of patients benefitted under the scheme along with the amount disbursed during each of the last five years and the current year, year and State/UT-wise?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (SHRI PRATAPRAO JADHAV)

(a) Under the Health Minister's Cancer Patient Fund (HMCPF) component of the Umbrella Scheme of Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN), one-time financial assistance of up to Rs. 15 lakh is provided for the treatment of poor (living below State/UT-wise poverty line) patients suffering from cancer. The financial assistance is provided for treatment of the patients at Regional Cancer Centres (RCCs) / Tertiary Care Cancer Centres (TCCCs), State Cancer Institutes (SCIs) and other Government hospitals/institutes having cancer treatment facilities.

(b) Patients can apply for financial assistance under the Umbrella Scheme of RAN through either offline or online modes. Offline submission of applications can be made through any Government hospital by patients belonging to those States/UTs, the National Food Security Act (NFSA) data of which, is not integrated on National Health Authority (NHA)'s IT platform. For States/UTs which are integrated on NHA's IT platform, the Government hospital generates RAN ID of the eligible patient and, subsequently, the application is processed further through the Transaction Management System (TMS). Upon approval, confirmation is sent to the bank for reserving the fund for the patient and treatment commences.

- (c) Financial assistance for eligible patients is released to the treating hospitals/institutes. There is no State/UT-wise allocation of funds under Umbrella Scheme of RAN. Therefore, State/UT-wise data is not maintained centrally. The number of patients benefitted and amount disbursed under the Umbrella Scheme of RAN, which has a component of HMCPF, during each of the last five years and the current year is as under:

| Year    |   Amount disbursed (in Rs. Crore) |   Beneficiaries |
|---------|-----------------------------------|-----------------|
| 2019-20 |                             66.21 |            1159 |
| 2020-21 |                             44.37 |             419 |
| 2021-22 |                             22.86 |             332 |
| 2022-23 |                             53.88 |             572 |
| 2023-24 |                             14.36 |             568 |
| 2024-25 |                             27.06 |             514 |

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