Even as the Government claims it is providing health care facilities to the people of the State, it has come to light that the health department made many health cards in the names of even dead people in order to inflate the numbers of beneficiaries covered to prove achievements made under the ambitious Mukhyamantri Swasthya Bima Yojna (MSBY).
‘The Pioneer’ stumbled upon some instances where the health cards of the dead were prepared. Ram Bahadur, a resident of Chander Road in Dalanwala area of the city, died due to severe lung infection a year ago but the sloppy health and family welfare department made his health card. Similarly, Amaranth of Khatik Mohalla near DAV College died about two years ago but his card was also made.
It is worth mentioning that health cards of many senior Government and police officials were also made though they are not eligible under the provisions of the scheme.
Interestingly, glaring mistakes occurred in the preparation of the cards despite of the fact that the entire process had elaborate check points. When asked to comment on the glaring mistakes the Director-General (DG) of health services Dr G S Joshi accepted that negligence has occurred in the process of making the cards. He said that the cards are not distributed yet and if any wrong card is detected it would be cancelled immediately.
United India Insurance Company was handed over the task of MSBY by the Government. The company agreed to provide a cover of Rs 50,000 per family for a year on a measly premium of Rs 168 per valid card. The task of survey was handed over to the health department which pushed Asha workers into the work. The Asha workers were provided with preprinted forms - with a Unique Identity Number (UIN) - on which details of the heads of families (taken from electoral rolls) were mentioned. The Asha workers were also provided some blank forms for those whose family was split or those who settled in the area recently. The information provided in the forms were uploaded by the Third Party Administrator (TPA) and based on which the health cards were prepared.
In the wake of many discrepancies in the making of the cards, Health Minister Surendra Singh Negi took a meeting of the senior health department officials and United India Insurance Company in Dehradun on Wednesday and directed the officials to rectify the errors.