Tripura: Government launches help desk at Agartala hospital to speed up social pension for cancer patients

Agartala (Tripura) [India], May 1 (ANI): In a move aimed at expediting welfare services for cancer patients, Tripura government inaugurated a dedicated Help Desk at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Regional Cancer Hospital in Agartala on Thursday.
Social Welfare Minister Tinku Roy, while inaugurating the facility, told ANI, "Earlier, cancer patients who came for treatment under old social pension schemes had to stay for extended periods--sometimes up to a month--as cancer treatment cannot be completed in a few days. Once they returned home and applied for pensions, it often took three to five months for the sanction to come through, and tragically, many patients did not survive long enough to receive the benefits."
He said this new initiative aims to eliminate such delays by enabling patients to submit their application forms at the same place they collect them.
"The newly launched Help Desk will simplify and fast-track the process under the Department of Social Welfare and Social Education, which currently offers 34 types of social pension schemes--three under central schemes and 31 at the state level--covering over 3.90 lakh beneficiaries. Among them, 1,77,477 women are enrolled in various women-specific schemes and 19,150 persons with disabilities with more than 60% disability are receiving disability pensions."
He also highlighted a special drive to include all persons with more than 60% disability--who have no government employment and whose family income has remained below Rs 1 lakh annually for the past decade--under pension schemes.
"Under this campaign, 2,537 new beneficiaries have already been brought under the scheme, and efforts are ongoing to include more in the second phase," he said.
A separate dedicated pension scheme for cancer patients was also introduced.
"Any patient registered with the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Regional Cancer Hospital, whose annual family income is below Rs 1.5 lakh and who has no government-employed family member, is eligible to receive a monthly pension of Rs 2,000," Roy said.
He urged all eligible individuals with disabilities or cancer to contact the Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) in their area. Applications must include an Aadhaar card, ration card, bank passbook, proof of date of birth, income certificate issued by the SDM or DCM (not required for Antyodaya families), and a declaration of no government employment in the family certified by a Gazetted Officer or Panchayat Secretary and countersigned by the local BDO.
The Help Desk is now fully operational and officials expect it to significantly cut delays in processing pension applications and ensure timely delivery of critical support to vulnerable patients. (ANI)