SHILLONG: Former health minister A.L Hek has urged the state government to start phase III of the Meghalaya Health Insurance Scheme (MHIS) at the earliest as a New Year gift to the people of the State.
The State government had suddenly announced the discontinuation of MHIS Phase II on October 31 and the beneficiaries are now a confused lot as they have to wait for MHIS III to get medical treatment.
“I am getting hundreds of calls from the economically backward section as they are eager to avail the scheme, but in vain,” Hek said on Friday.
In a letter to Hek recently, Union Health Minister J.P Nadda said the Centre had raised the benefit cover from Rs 30,000 under Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) to Rs 1 lakh in the proposed National Health Protection Scheme.
MHIS also makes use of the RSBY scheme.
The status of claims under MHIS II as on June 30 this year is that as many as 34,589 female and 17,942 male persons have availed themselves of the scheme. With a total of 52,531 patients getting medical benefits, the claims raised during the period is Rs 33,46,40,837.
MHIS phase I report for the period from May 2013 to June 2015 states that 39,843 persons opted for the benefits and out of them 27,409 are female and 12,434 male.
The total claim during the period was Rs 15,98,03,136.
However, another phase of MHIS 1 from May 1, 2013, to April 30, 2014, highlights that the total beneficiaries were 19,332 persons (13,202 female and 6,130 male) and the claim was Rs 9,32,34,827.
