West Bengal | Cashless but not spotless

For almost a decade, the Swasthya Sathi was West Bengal’s flagship health insurance scheme, the centrepiece of Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee’s welfare politics. The cashless model, launched on December 30, 2016, had a sweeping mandate—offer a Rs 5 lakh annual cover to all permanent residents of the state (except those covered under other public health schemes such as state employees). The TMC regime even chose to walk away from the central healthcare Ayushman Bharat alliance, arguing that its own programme was superior to it. But now, a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit has cast a shadow over that legacy.