By Aafaque Hussain
SHILLONG: The Megha Health Insurance Scheme (MHIS) launched by the State Government is set to bring much needed relief to thousands of economically backward citizens of the State who cannot afford expensive medical treatment.
The MHIS enrolment drive is currently being carried out in different localities of the city, under which people are being enrolled for the insurance scheme.
The scheme has been able to catch the fancy of the citizens who are coming out in large numbers in all localities to register themselves for the noble scheme.
However, the scheme, despite being a wonderful initiative, is fraught with loopholes which are creating confusion in the minds of the people who are trying to get themselves enrolled.
There have been large-scale complaints from residents that when they went to get their names registered for the insurance scheme, they were denied the same on the basis that their names did not figure in the electoral list which was being used for the purpose.
The State Manager of MHIS, Larry Rymbai, while speaking to The Shillong Times recently, admitted that the database is the biggest challenge for them at the moment as many people have been left out since their names do not figure in the electoral list.
Rymbai explained that enrolment for the MHIS is being done on the basis of the 2007 electoral rolls which is the latest one available with the department.
“People who have missed out will be enrolled under the scheme next year,” he said.
While explaining the details of the enrolment process, Rymbai said that the head of the family must be present during the enrolment and he/ she should bring along the EPIC for the enrolment.
“At first, the entire family will be photographed followed by individual photographs of the family members to be covered under the insurance scheme. Thumb impressions of the family members will be collected for identification and a smart card will be issued to each house hold at the time of registration.
“The entire process of enrolment for a single family takes 10-12 minutes,” he added.
The State manager also made it clear that the scheme would cover treatment under hospitalization and is not meant for use in case of patients who resort to the Out Patient Department (OPD) facility in the empanelled hospitals. He also informed that the scheme would cover upto five members from each family.
Under the scheme patients would be provided with insurance cover of upto Rs 1,60,000 in case of critical illness. The scheme also covers transportation cost of Rs 200 for each instance of hospitalization or day care treatment, subject to maximum of ten such instances in the cover period, Rymbai informed.
As per the 2007 database, altogether 4.8 lakh households in the State will be covered under the scheme and so far 15-20 per cent of the population has been covered under the scheme, Rymbai said, adding that the enrolment process will continue till June this year.
Besides a large number of hospitals in the State, several private hospitals outside the State have been empanelled under the MHIS which include Hayat Hospital at Kaithal, Haryana, Down Town Hospitals Ltd. and North East Cancer Hospital & Research Institute in Kamrup, Assam, Global Hospitals and Aware Global Hospitals in Hyderabad, BGS Global Hospitals in Bengaluru, Global Health City in Chennai and Tata Medical Centre in Kolkata.
Rymbai also informed that the State Government is in talks with some hospitals in Vellore and other areas as hundreds of patients from the State travel to Vellore for medical treatment.
Earlier, Health and Family Welfare Minister AL Hek had asserted that the scheme is not meant for BPL families only but would also cover APL families in the State.
“Only Government employees, both State and Central, cannot be beneficiaries of the scheme,” he had said.
