It appears that the lethargic district medical health and family welfare department rolled into action on the rebuke of Chief Minister Harish Rawat as it has almost completed the long pending survey of people for Mukhyamantri Swasthya Bima Yojna (MSBY) in the Sate capital. Dehradun district was lagging much behind in the implementation of the universal health insurance scheme. Taking exception to this, the CM had recently announced a bonus of Rs 1000 for Asha workers of all districts of State barring Dehradun as he was not happy with slow pace of survey in State capital.
The district health department was reprimanded by Government officials for delay in the scheme. The MSBY was implemented all over the State on April 1. The Officiating Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Dehradun Dr DK Chakrapani told The Pioneer that department has completed survey of 98 per cent of total 3,25,154 families in the district. He said the selected families have started availing the benefits of the scheme.
Dr Chakrapani claimed that the process of survey and identification of the families would soon be competed. He said the process of survey is completed in rural areas and only some areas of urban Dehradun are remaining now. The Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Harish Rawat had launched the MSBY amid much fanfare on Republic Day this year. This scheme aims to provide a medical insurance cover of Rs50,000 per family and includes both the below and above poverty line families. The survey is necessitated to select actual beneficiaries for the scheme.
The MSBY does not include income tax payers, Central and State Government employees and pensions. The department is digitizing the data of the families collected under the scheme on the basis of which the health cards would be issued to the families by New India Insurance Company. The company would reimburse up to Rs50,000 in a year, the cost of treatment of covered family to the listed hospital. The State Government is planning to increase the insurance cover to Rs2 lakh per year under the scheme.