Centre yet to respond to Health dept
SHILLONG: The State Health department has written to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare seeking permission to continue enrolment for the Megha Health Insurance Scheme throughout the year.
Last week, the Subordinate Committee of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly had slammed officials of the Health department over the various loopholes in implementation of the scheme even as the Committee directed that the enrolment should continue since only three lakh households in the State have been covered under the scheme.
Health officials informed that the department had previously asked the Centre to allow the State government to continue with the enrolment throughout the year so as to allow people to enroll at any time.
However, the Centre has not given any assurance on the matter since it is coming out with the restructured Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana.
The officials also said that help kiosks have been set up in many hospitals including Shillong Civil Hospital and Nazareth Hospital and the Health department had widely publicized the scheme through radio, plays and others.
When asked about complaints that certain hospitals in the State were not accepting the MHIS card, the officials admitted that hospitals were not accepting MHIS cards issued in 2013 since the cards had already expired and beneficiaries needed to renew their cards.