SHILLONG, May 27: The Meghalaya government has decided to increase the coverage of Megha Health Insurance Scheme (MHIS) to Rs 60,000 for the beneficiaries in view of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The decision has been taken to provide immediate relief to the beneficiaries affected by COVID-19,” Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong said.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma also spoke about the government’s efforts to extend the existing COVID treatment packages under MHIS. “A package of ARDS for Rs 60,000 per day will be extended to patients suffering from multiple complications requiring ICU with ventilation support for which the earlier coverage was Rs 4900,” Sangma said.
Explaining the move, Director of Health Services (MI), Aman War said when a patient is admitted to the ICU and put on life support, the package, which earlier covered Rs 4,900 per day, has now been increased to Rs 60,000 per day for the COVID patients.
Tynsong lamented that the registration of MHIS enrollment is only 58.5% till now. He advised people who are eligible to come forward and enroll themselves with the MHIS.
Asked about the reasons behind a lesser number of people registering themselves under the scheme, MHIS State Manager, Sonata Dkhar said they have prepared the database of eligible beneficiaries using the electoral roll of 2016.
She said they also have the data of socio-economic census and the MHIS uses the EPICs of families, which have not been registered, and send them to the Centre.
Stating that those who meet the criteria can register themselves with the MHIS, she said there are over 7 lakh households in the database but only around 4.4 lakh of them have registered.
The government took the decision after the Federation of Khasi-Jaintia and Garo People had written to Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma to sanction a special scheme for the COVID patients to cover their medical expenses at all private and government hospitals in the state.
Dr War said the department is going for aggressive registration. He said many villagers are willing to enroll themselves but the exercise has been affected by the pandemic.
“Once the situation improves, we will go to the field. We are confident that from the next policy period, more people will come forward and enroll themselves,” he said.
