State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest commercial bank, launched a special loan scheme for the poor heart patients named ‘SBI Hrudaya Suraksha Scheme’. The scheme will be available for the patients who are undergoing cardiac treatment at the Narayana Hrudayalaya in Bangalore.
The loan scheme was launched by Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank of Bangladesh and Nobel Laureate for peace in 2006.
Speaking at the launch function, SBI Chairman O P Bhatt, said SBI has been working out the plans so that it can reach to the larger sections of the society and the new loan scheme is part of one such initiative to help the poor heart patient who has to undergo heart surgery. He added bank in the future will be coming up with more complex products in association with Narayana Hrudayalaya.
Mahpara Ali, chief general manager, SBI, Bangalore, while explaining about the scheme said the SBI Hrudaya Suraksha Scheme is a hassle-free loan product which aims to help the poor patient meet the huge medical expenses in getting the treatment and surgery.
As per the scheme SBI will be lending around 80 per cent of the medical expenditure or Rs 50,000, whichever is lower? The borrower will be required to repay the loan amount in six months with no interest for the first three months.
After three months, interest will be charged on the loan amount which will be of 8.5 per cent. The loan scheme will be available only to poor patients and as per the on recommendation of the hospital. She said that bank will be lending out to about 30-50 patients per month initially.
Dr Devi Prasad Shetty, chairman and managing director, Narayana Hrudayalaya said, “We need to bring in innovative schemes and investments to shore up healthcare cover in the country. Healthcare, especially heart care, needs huge investments. The present demand is 25 lakh heart procedures a year, but only 80,000 procedures are carried out across various hospitals”.
Ali said, “Talks are on with Narayana Hrudayalaya as to how to link self help groups (SHGs) in Karnataka for healthcare schemes. Integration of SHGs and healthcare schemes are being worked out”. She further added “State Bank of India along with few non-government organisations (NGOs) in Karnataka has exposure to 50,000 SHGs and has disbursed loans to the tune of Rs 200 crore”.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment