SHILLONG, SEPT 25: Health Minister AL Hek today said the phase-IV of the Megha Health Insurance Scheme (MHIS) will not be launched on October 1, due to technical reasons.
Replying to a cut motion in the Assembly here on Tuesday, Hek informed the House that the policy period for MHIS phase-III has ended today.
“However, we will not be able to launch the MHIS-phase-IV on October 1 due to technical reasons,” he said.
When opposition member from Mawsynram HM Shangpliang pleaded that the scheme be extended, the health minister however assured that the patients already admitted in the hospitals will not be affected due to the break.
Hek also informed that the state government had also sent a letter to the Centre government and is waiting for its response before decided on the new date for the rolling out of the new phase.
He said the state government will continue the implementation of MHIS phase-IV in convergence with the central scheme – Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya (AB-PMJA).
“In Meghalaya, the benefit of Rs 5 lakh per family will be extended to all beneficiary households in the state except for state and central government employees,” Hek said.
According to him, the new scheme will not have a cap on family size as done previously and therefore any number of beneficiaries can be included in one household.
With regards to payment of premium under the MHIS phase-IV, the minister informed that upon selection of insurance company, 45 per cent premium will need to be paid immediately after start of policy period.
Stating that the MHIS is one of the first successfully implemented universal health insurance in India, he said, “We expect that the new scheme will also do better than the previous phases for the benefit of the people of the state particularly the poor and the needed.”
“We want the participation of all stakeholders, the MLAs, the dorbar shnongs, MDCs, churches and religious institutions for increasing the enrolment under MHIS,” he added.
Hek said that the implementation of MHIS in the state has been improving since the start of the scheme.
In the first phase, the number of households enrolled under the scheme was 1,99,815 (46%) which increased to 3,46,548 (50.5%) in the second phase and further increased to 4,36,788 (54.8%) in the third phase, he added.
The minister further informed that in terms of utilization by beneficiaries, a total of 146486 beneficiaries claimed an amount of Rs 94.81 crore under the third phase of the scheme as on September 15.
A total number of 41874 enrolled beneficiaries have benefited from the scheme amounting to Rs 16.6 crore under the first phase, while 79042 beneficiaries claimed an amount of Rs 53.16 crore in the second phase.
Under the Ayushman Bharat, he said, “We have special category population (mainly families under below poverty line) and we have covered 3.47 lakh households in Meghalaya. Under this, all expenditures will be covered by the government of India while the rest will be covered under the MHIS.”
Earlier while participating in support of the cut motion, Shangpliang urged the department to set up proper monitoring cell besides help desk in all hospital to assist people especially from rural areas.
“There could be tendency of manipulation by the hospitals and the amount credited to the card will be finished. If this card has five lakh rupees now we would like to see that it will be meaningfully utilized. Therefore, the department should set up a proper monitoring cell where hospitals would submit the bills immediately after the treatment,” he said.
Stressing on the need to identify and classify surgeries to be covered under the scheme, Shangpliang also asked the minister to address cases where hospitals reject on ground of typical error on the gender of the beneficiary.
On this, the minister however said that the government has not come across any complaints on such typical errors on the smart cards issued to the beneficiaries adding that it is mandatory for all government hospitals to set up help desk.
By Our Reporter
+ There are no comments
Add yours