State widens health cover

The Karnataka government has released the first instalment of Rs 3.75 crore for extending the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (National Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme — NCHIS) for families living below the poverty line (BPL), initially launched in five districts, to cover the remaining 25 districts and urban areas in the state.

On the direction of the Centre, which funds 75 per cent of the expenditure and the rest by the state, the Karnataka government has provided Rs 15 crore in the 2010-11 budget for covering 1.08 million BPL families from the unorganised sector living in the rural parts of the districts in the state.

The scheme was initially launched in five districts of Mysore, Bangalore rural, Shimoga, Belgaum and Dakshina Kannada, and included Bangalore rural in 2009-10 as a pilot project. The lowest tender of Rs 4.75 crore from the National Insurance Company for the five districts has already been approved by the Centre.

Issual of smart cards for the beneficiaries of the national scheme was launched during February last and 46 per cent of the 122,511 identified beneficiaries have been issued with the cards so far in Mysore district, according to state labour commissioner M S Ravishankar.

Reviewing the progress of the scheme, its awareness among the beneficiaries and whether the smart cards have reached 51,313 families in the district so far, he said health benefits were being provided in six government hospitals, 11 private hospitals and 36 health centres.

NCHIS covers BPL families as per a 2002 survey conducted by the Department of Rural Development and Panchayatraj. A family as was defined under the scheme comprised five members — head of the family, his spouse and three of his dependent children. They are eligible to get benefits of treatment subject to a maximum of Rs 30,000 each every year.

They will be also eligible for Rs 100 to cover travel expenses to hospitals each time, the maximum allowed in a year being Rs 1,000. Treatment can be had in any of the hospitals identified by the insurance company.

Diseases noticed among beneficiaries even before the NCHIS was launched would be treated under it, deputy commissioner Harsh Gupta added.