Govt may roll out health scheme in March

SHILLONG: The Department of Health and Family Welfare has invited competitive quotations from insurance companies for implementation of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), the Senior Citizens Health Insurance Scheme (SCHIS) and the Megha Health Insurance Scheme-Phase 3 (MHIS III) in all districts.
H.M Shangpliang, CEO-MHIS, told The Shillong Times that the tentative date for the rollout of the third phase is March 1.
The policy phase of MHIS-II ended on October 31 last year, which was the extended deadline from July 31, as there was a need to integrate senior citizens. “After the second phase ended, there was a break as there was a need to integrate senior citizens and to improve the scheme,” an official source said.
The total number of households enrolled in Phase I of MHIS (excluding government employees), which started in 2013, was 4,38,026 and enrolled 1,99,815 persons.
In the first phase, beneficiaries were entitled up to Rs 1,60,000 at the time of hospitalisation on a floater basis.
In the second phase, the total insurance package was enhanced to Rs 2,00,000 to all the families of the State, excluding State and Central Government Employees.
The total number of people enrolled for the programme have increased to 3,46,548 and the total number of households is 6,86,084.
MHIS is besides the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, which covers only BPL families and has 70 per cent senior citizens on the beneficiary list. The scheme allots Rs 30,000 to each beneficiary.
MHIS functions on the lines of the RSBY framework. BPL families, workers in the unorganised, like construction labourers, can avail themselves of the card.
The source said people can benefit “if only they enroll themselves and encourage others to come forward for MHIS and RSBY”.
“Renewal of cards will be done during the enrolment process. As per the Government of India directives, there is only 4 months’ time for enrollment (March-June),” the source added.