JOIN USILO hub to come up in India
The ILO will set up a “Learning Platform on Social Security.” The platform comprises countries committed to providing social security cover. It will support such countries in overcoming the challenges associated with implementing such reforms. India has earned this rare distinction due to the success of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), a health insurance scheme for the BPL families.
“India can take the lead as a number of countries have evinced interest in the scheme. They are either in the process of evolving their own health insurance programmes or are keen to understand and adopt the information technology base that is at the heart of RSBY, making it a transparent delivery system,” an official source told Deccan Herald.
The Maldives Government has already started the process of bilateral discussion with India to cooperate and develop a health insurance programme for them.
Countries like Nigeria and Bangladesh are scheduled to send in delegations to India to fathom the nuances of RSBY and explore the possibility of evolving a health insurance scheme in their countries. Pakistan has already taken a decision to implement a scheme similar to RSBY and a series of discussions, including the ones at Bangkok and Maldives, have already taken place under the aegis of the World Bank.
The Philipines, Indonesia and Ghana are keen on learning from the smart card technology followed in the Indian system. Similarly Indian Health Insurance scheme could learn from the experience of Thailand in terms of out patient care.
The RSBY is a smart card-based programme providing hospitalisation cover up to Rs 30,000 per annum. Launched in April 2008 around 9,00,000 people have already availed free hospitalisation benefits as part of the system
Healthy competition
*India frontrunner in providing health insurance facilities to BPL families
* Maldives in bilateral discussion with India to cooperate and develop a health insurance programme for them
* Nigeria and Bangladesh scheduled to send delegations to fathom nuances of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana
* Ghana, Indonesia and Philippines keen on learning smart card technology followed in the Indian system