Jalpaiguri, North Bengal<\/span>5 minutes ago<\/span>Author: Tirthankar Das<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n GFX by Kamlesh Makwana.<\/span><\/p>\n Nagen Bhagat, a 36-year-old tribal migrant worker from Dhupguri in Jalpaiguri district, has finally undergone gallbladder surgery without paying for the procedure under Ayushman Bharat.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Surgery costs proved impossible for family<\/strong><\/span> Nagen was diagnosed with gallstones in 2023 while working in Mumbai. Doctors advised surgery, but the estimated cost of around Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh was beyond what he could afford.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nagen says Swasthya Sathi failed him<\/strong><\/span> According to Nagen, he approached several healthcare facilities with his Swasthya Sathi card but could not access the treatment. Unable to arrange the money, he returned home before eventually going back to Mumbai for work despite continuing abdominal pain.<\/p>\n Homeopathic treatment helped manage persistent pain<\/strong><\/span> He said he relied on homeopathic treatment to manage his pain and continued working as a migrant labourer to support his family.<\/p>\n ASHA workers helped arrange Ayushman card<\/strong><\/span> The situation changed this month when local ASHA workers learnt about Nagen\u2019s condition. They helped arrange an Ayushman Bharat card and contacted healthcare providers for his treatment.<\/p>\n Private nursing home arranged for surgery<\/strong><\/span> Nagen, a resident of Madhya Khattimari under Jhar Alta II gram panchayat, was eventually taken to a private nursing home in Jalpaiguri, around 40 km from his village.<\/p>\n Doctor facilitates free gallbladder operation<\/strong><\/span> After contact with Jalpaiguri Medical College general surgeon Dr Saptarshi Mondal, Nagen underwent gallbladder surgery at Touch Nursing Home in Jalpaiguri under the Ayushman Bharat card without paying for the procedure, according to his family.<\/p>\n Patient recovering at home after operation<\/strong><\/span> Nagen is currently recovering at home and has been advised to take around a month of rest.<\/p>\n Nagen is the sole earning member of his family and supports his wife and four-year-old son. As he has been advised to rest, he is currently unable to return to work.<\/p>\n Housing assistance remains another major concern<\/strong><\/span> The family lives in a damaged house and depends on Nagen\u2019s daily earnings. He also alleged that he did not receive the government assistance he expected under housing schemes or during floods under the previous government.<\/p>\n Housing survey raises fresh hope<\/strong><\/span> Recently, however, the local gram panchayat conducted a survey of his house under the housing scheme. Nagen now hopes that he will receive a permanent home.<\/p>\n Nagen\u2019s experience has triggered discussion locally about how easily poor families can access government-backed healthcare schemes and treatment.<\/p>\n Two health schemes face access comparison<\/strong><\/span> Nagen\u2019s experience has also brought attention to the difference between his reported difficulty accessing treatment through Swasthya Sathi and his subsequent treatment under Ayushman Bharat. His experience is specific to his case and does not by itself establish that either scheme routinely succeeds or fails.<\/p>\n BJP leaders cite case as example<\/strong><\/span> Local BJP leaders have cited Nagen\u2019s case while highlighting access to treatment through Ayushman Bharat. The political claim should be viewed separately from the documented details of Nagen\u2019s individual treatment.<\/p>\n Recovery now matters more than politics<\/strong><\/span> For Nagen, however, the political debate is secondary. After years of abdominal pain, he now wants to recover, return to work and support his family again.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jalpaiguri, North Bengal5 minutes agoAuthor: Tirthankar Das GFX by Kamlesh Makwana. Nagen Bhagat, a 36-year-old tribal migrant worker from Dhupguri in Jalpaiguri district, has finally undergone gallbladder surgery without paying for the procedure under Ayushman Bharat. Surgery costs proved impossible for family Nagen was diagnosed with gallstones in 2023 while working in Mumbai. Doctors advised…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"GFX](\"https:\/\/images.bhaskarassets.com\/web2images\/1884\/2026\/09\/16\/image-2_1789559644.png\")
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