Mukhyamantri Swasthya Bima Yojna (MSBY), the ambitious social security project of the Harish Rawat Government which got started on April 1 is facing official slackness in the State Capital itself. The medical health and family welfare department has failed to even shortlist the people entitled for the health scheme in Dehradun district.
The Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Harish Rawat had launched the MSBY amid much fanfare on Republic Day this year. The scheme aims to provide a medical insurance cover of Rs50,000 per family and includes both the below and above poverty line families. The scheme started from this financial year but it was learnt that the scheme could take time to actually get functional in the capital city of Dehradun. The medical, health and family welfare department entrusted to implement the scheme is proceeding with snail’s pace on the scheme.
The department was provided details of 3,25,154 families in Dehradun district by the State Government for the scheme. The department had to do a survey for selecting actual beneficiaries as income tax payers, Central and State Government employees and pensions are not entitled for benefit under the scheme. It was revealed that the sloppy department was able to collect information from only 1,92,113 families till Thursday which constitutes less than 60 per cent of total work. After collecting information and screening the beneficiaries, the department would digitise the data on the basis of which the health cards would be issued to the families by New India Insurance Company. One of the departmental sources revealed that the entire process can take at least thirty to forty more days.
It is interesting to note that while the department has completed survey in rural areas it has failed miserably in urban centres. The process of survey is 100 per cent complete in predominately rural areas of Chakrata, Kalsi and Vikasnagar but it is very poor in urban areas like Dehradun city where only 35 per cent of the survey is complete so far.
The officials cite lack of public support and incorrect addresses provided to them for poor performance in urban areas. An Asha worker pressed in the survey duty said that many times people slam doors on their faces when they try to get information from them. When contacted the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Dehradun SP Agarwal, he accepted that inordinate delay has occurred in the process of survey of the families but added that the process would be completed within a week. He said that he is personally monitoring the work now.