Govt health scheme boon for 25,144 families in DK

 With the renewal of the scheme in the month of March, few more families in the district can look forward to get benefit out of the scheme.

The scheme was introduced on a pilot basis in five districts of the State namely, Dakshina Kannada, Mysore, Belgaum, Bangalore Rural and Shimoga districts. The BPL families recognised in the all family census conducted by the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department in the year 2002 were included in the scheme’s beneficiaries list and were allotted with bio-metric smart card, on one card to one family basis.

A maximum five members of a family can be benefitted from the scheme and health insurance is available up to Rs 30,000 in a year from National Insurance Company Ltd.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Assistant Labour Commissioner Venkatesh Shindhihatti informed that as many as 73,881 members of 25,144 families in the district have enrolled their names in the insurance scheme. Though there is a privilege for including five members of a family under the scheme, on an average three members per family have been covered in the district. As on December 31, as many as 1,620 in DK have been benefitted from the scheme and a sum of Rs 1,07,98,799 has been claimed from the beneficiaries which is the highest overall amount to be claimed among all five districts, said Venkatesh.

Hospitals’ role

The prescribed 30 hospitals in the district (13 government and 17 private hospitals) have been rendering service to the scheme beneficiaries at a reasonable rate. A list of 70 health anomalies have been made which come under the purview of the scheme.

As per the scheme regulations, the scheme is applicable only to the in-patients. According to Venkatesh, the scheme is of utmost advantage to the BPL families for whom to avail good medical facility is otherwise a distant dream.

“Under the scheme, the government has fixed certain amount for the treatment of each health anomaly (the amount differs for each disorder), which is strictly followed by the 30 hospitals. The scheme is a boon to the poor families, as the hospitals have been curtailed from charging erroneous hospital/medical bills to the BPL families,” observes Venkatesh.

A kiosk has been opened in the Labour Department to hear the grievance and deliver required information to the beneficiaries.

“We used to receive numerous grievances initially as the beneficiaries were complaining against the hospitals for their cold response. With the passing days, there is a considerable reduction in the complaints, as we don’t receive more than three or four calls in a month,” informed Venkatesh.

Following the success of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana in five districts, there are all possibilities of the government introducing the scheme in other districts too in the month of March, he said.

ASHAs do a commendable job

ASHAs (Accredited Social Health Activist) are playing a commendable role in the success of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana. These health activists have been trained to guide the rural BPL families to avail the benefits of the scheme and they already hold the credit of arranging more than 30 camps in this regard.