BHUBANESWAR: In the run-up to the 2024 elections, the Naveen Patnaik government on Friday expanded the ambit of its flagship

free health coverage scheme

,

Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana

, to all

rural families

in Odisha, except those having

income tax payees

and regular

government employees

.
The scheme, launched in August 2018, currently covers 96 lakh families that have ration cards.

The expanded coverage will include 14 lakh more families who don’t have ration cards. This will take the total number of beneficiaries to 1.1 crore or one-fourth of Odisha’s 4.8 crore population.

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