Karunya benevolent fund scheme and health care development in Kerala Karikkan Divya* *Research Scholar, Department of Applied Economics, Thalassery Campus, Kannur University, Palayad, Kerala, India. Email id: divyakarikkan@gmail.com Online published on 9 February, 2018. Abstract Kerala being a welfare state is very well known for its health care facilities processes and activities it has offered for the people. A society's welfare is the well being of its members which further depends on quality of health care. The Kerala state have implemented various health services for the poor and deprived. The health service schemes often intended to provide much needed care, protection and such other services to the women, children, physically and mentally challenged, destitute, orphans, aged, infirm etc. Kerala have achieved a good degree of success on basic health indicators like Infant Mortality Rate, Maternal Mortality Rate, Total Fertility Rate, and Life Expectancy. Now a day's Kerala's health sector is focusing on three major pillars in order to achieve the twin goals of health care promotion, namely “health for all” and “international competitiveness in health”. The new health strategy requires participation by all such as public, communities, and government. The three pillars of the new health strategy are Economic prosperity through health by creating world class facilities, Social health and Environment protection. A major shift in the strategic approach will be to transform the health sector into a productive sector to bring about economic prosperity. An ageing society with a heavy burden of terminal diseases will need tertiary care. The RSBY benefit package does not cover tertiary care, while CHIS Plus covers limited tertiary care for those registered under the scheme. This leaves out other groups for whom tertiary care treatment becomes unaffordable and may, therefore, require assistance. Perceiving such a felt need, Kerala's Finance Minister designed a scheme called Karunya Benevolent Fund (KBF) to meet the tertiary care expenditure of deserving individuals. Top Keywords Health care, Health sector, Karunya Benevolent Fund, Development, Kerala. Top |