Aimed at providing annual health cover of Rs five lakh per family to 43.18 lakh families of Punjab, the State Government is all set to launch its flagship universal health insurance scheme ‘Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana’ (SSBY) from July this year.

“All the formalities for the launch of this universal health scheme are completed. As many 364 private hospitals of the state have been empanelled where the beneficiaries could get secondary and tertiary care treatment,” said the state Health and Family Welfare Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu, after presiding over the first meeting of CM’s consultative group of universal health insurance scheme.

Sidhu said that in total, 43.18 lakh families of Punjab would be provided the annual health cover of Rs five lakh. “These families are comprising of 14.86 lakh PMJAY families, 20.48 lakh other poor families possessing blue cards, 7.84 lakh families from various departments like five lakh farmers under Punjab Mandi Board, 46,000 families under Excise and Taxation Department and 2.38 lakh construction workers registered with construction worker’s welfare board,” he said adding that the government has already prepared the database of 43.18 lakh beneficiaries.

He said that all public hospitals, above the Community Health Centre (CHC) level are empanelled to provide secondary and tertiary care treatment to the beneficiaries. “Around 400 private hospitals in Punjab have applied for empanelment, which is under process, and would be empanelled before the start of this scheme,” he said.

Sidhu said that the cost of the premium for 14.86 lakh families covered under PMJAY as per SECC data shall be borne by the Union Government and the State Government in 60:40 ratio whereas for the rest of beneficiaries all the cost would be borne by the State Government.

Further enumerating the core features of the scheme, Sidhu said that a cashless health insurance cover of Rs five lakh per family per year would be provided. Beneficiaries could avail the cashless secondary care and tertiary treatment in empanelled public and private hospitals of Punjab and Chandigarh, he said.

The state Additional Chief Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) Satish Chandra apprised the members present in the meeting that to facilitate the beneficiaries, 194 ayushman mitras have been appointed in the state’s public hospitals whereas Deputy Medical Commissioners have been nominated as District Nodal Officer under the scheme.

Likewise, insurance agency has established project offices and its State and District Implementation Units to facilitate the beneficiaries to claim insurance cover.