MLC Dharmendra Bhardwaj launches five-point health awareness drive for Meerut

MLC Dharmendra Bhardwaj launches healthy Meerut, a five-point drive to help families use free health services: cancer screening, ESIC & mental-health helplines.

MEERUT, UTTAR-PRADESH, INDIA, November 9, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- MLC Dharmendra Bhardwaj, Member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council from the Meerut–Ghaziabad Local Authorities constituency, today launched Healthy Meerut, a city-wide health awareness drive to connect families in Meerut City with the free and low-cost health services already available to them under central and state schemes.

The drive focuses on five areas: Ayushman Bharat health cover, screening for oral, breast and cervical cancer, tuberculosis care and nutrition support, health insurance for workers under the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, and the national mental-health and de-addiction helplines. Over the coming months, the MLC’s office will hold neighborhood camps, set up help desks and run awareness sessions with schools, colleges, residents’ associations, traders and women’s groups across the city.

“Many families in Meerut are entitled to free treatment, free tests and free counselling, and do not know it,” said MLC Dharmendra Bhardwaj at the launch. “The help exists. Our work is to make sure every family knows where it is and how to reach it.”

He said the drive would not create any new scheme, but would close the gap between what is available and what families actually use. “In a health emergency, every family asks the same three questions: where do I go, what will it cost, and who will help me? Healthy Meerut is about answering those questions before the emergency, not during it.”

AYUSHMAN CARDS FOR EVERY ELIGIBLE FAMILY

The first and largest part of the drive is a series of Ayushman card camps. Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, launched on 23 September 2018, provides cashless hospital treatment of up to ₹5 lakh per eligible family per year at government and empaneled private hospitals. The scheme covers about 55 crore people across 12 crore families nationally.

The scheme completed eight years in September 2026. According to the National Health Authority, 48.51 crore Ayushman cards had been issued by then, about 13.25 crore hospital admissions had been made, and treatment worth about ₹2.03 lakh crore had been provided through more than 38,000 empaneled hospitals across the country.

Since 29 October 2024, every Indian citizen aged 70 or above has been entitled to an Ayushman Vay Vandana card, regardless of income, with cover of up to ₹5 lakh a year. Senior citizens in families already covered by the scheme receive an additional top-up of up to ₹5 lakh a year for themselves.
MLC Dharmendra Bhardwaj said each camp would have a separate, seated desk for residents aged 70 and above. “Our elders should not stand in queues for a card that is already theirs by right,” he said. “We will bring the desk to them.”

CANCER SCREENING CLOSE TO HOME

The second component is a series of cancer awareness sessions. Under the national programme for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, people aged 30 and above can be screened for oral, breast and cervical cancer at government health facilities. These are among the most common cancers in India, and all three can be detected early through simple checks.

The programme has built a wide network nationally, with 770 District NCD Clinics, 372 District Day Care Centres and 6,410 NCD clinics at Community Health Centres. The Union Budget 2025-26 announced Day Care Cancer Centres in all district hospitals over three years, with 200 centres planned for 2025-26. By July 2025, 297 new centres had been approved for that year.

“Fear of the result keeps many people away from the test,” said MLC Dharmendra Bhardwaj. “But early detection makes treatment simpler, cheaper and far more likely to succeed. We want every family in Meerut to see screening as protection, not as something to fear.”
The sessions will be held with women’s groups, residents’ associations and workplaces, and will place particular emphasis on reaching women and on reducing tobacco use, the leading cause of oral cancer.

TB: FREE TREATMENT AND NUTRITION SUPPORT

The third component is a ward-by-ward tuberculosis awareness campaign. Diagnosis and treatment of TB are free under the national programme. Since 1 November 2024, every notified TB patient has received ₹1,000 a month under the Ni-kshay Poshan Yojana for the full duration of treatment, double the earlier ₹500.
Uttar Pradesh has led the country in TB case finding. The state notified 6,81,731 TB patients in 2024, the highest in India, and 6.90 lakh patients in 2025 against a target of 6.75 lakh. In the 100-Day TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan 2.0, launched on 24 March 2026, Uttar Pradesh was the best-performing state, screening more than 31 lakh people.

“Uttar Pradesh has shown what a determined effort can achieve against TB,” said MLC Dharmendra Bhardwaj. “Meerut City will play its full part, ward by ward, by making sure every patient is found early and every patient completes treatment.”
The office will also invite residents, traders and institutions to become Ni-kshay Mitras, community supporters who provide TB patients with monthly food baskets during treatment.

HEALTH COVER FOR MEERUT’S WORKERS

The fourth component focuses on the city’s working families. The Employees’ State Insurance scheme covers employees earning up to ₹21,000 a month, or ₹25,000 for persons with disabilities, in covered establishments. Insured workers and their families receive medical care, along with cash benefits during sickness, maternity and disablement.

A 100-bed ESIC hospital is under construction at Marshal Pitch, Kanker Khera, in Meerut, on 2.024 hectares of land provided free of cost by the Government of Uttar Pradesh. According to the India Investment Grid, the project began on 15 April 2025 and has a completion date of 28 February 2027.

MLC Dharmendra Bhardwaj said his office would share a monthly public update on the hospital’s progress, drawn from official sources, and would hold camps in worker neighbourhoods to help employees check their coverage and obtain their e-Pehchan cards. “This hospital is being built for Meerut’s working families,” he said. “They should be ready to use it the day it opens.”

MENTAL HEALTH AND DE-ADDICTION HELP

The fifth component aims to put two national helplines within reach of every student and family in the city. Tele-MANAS, the national tele-mental health helpline run by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, offers free, confidential counselling around the clock on 14416 or 1-800-891-4416. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment runs a national toll-free de-addiction helpline on 14446.
The office will distribute a help directory carrying these numbers to schools, colleges and coaching centres, and will hold awareness sessions for students, parents and teachers.

“Asking for help with the mind takes the same courage as asking for help with the body, and it deserves the same respect,” said MLC Dharmendra Bhardwaj. “No student in Meerut should carry the weight of an exam, a loss or an addiction alone.”

MLC Dharmendra Bhardwaj said the drive would rely on the people of Meerut as much as on his office. “No office can reach every home on its own,” he said. “But volunteers, residents’ associations, traders and teachers together can. I invite every resident to come to the camps, and to bring a neighbour along.”
He added: “A family that knows its rights in a hospital is a family that is already healthier. Five points, one goal: that no family in Meerut loses its health, its savings or its peace of mind for want of information.”

ABOUT MLC DHARMENDRA BHARDWAJ

Dharmendra Bhardwaj is a Bharatiya Janata Party Member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council from the Meerut–Ghaziabad Local Authorities constituency. He was elected on 12 April 2022. Members for Local Authorities constituencies are elected by the elected representatives of local bodies, and his work connects the councils, panchayats and municipal bodies of Meerut and Ghaziabad with the state government.
He comes from village Ikdi in Sardhana tehsil of Meerut district. He began his working life as a chemistry teacher in 1992 and completed an M.Sc. at N.A.S. College, Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut, in 1997.
Education has remained at the centre of his public life. He has been Chancellor of Motherhood University, Roorkee, since 2019, and is Chairperson of Mahaveer Ayurvedic Medical College and Hospital, Meerut. He is also a member of the executive councils of Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut, and Maa Shakumbhari University, Saharanpur.
In his constituency work, he concentrates on civic services, health and welfare awareness, youth employment and Meerut’s sports-goods economy.

Dharmendra Bhardwaj
Member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative council
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