Other States - Rajasthan   

Free medical care for BPL families soon

JAIPUR: Over 6.08 lakh families living below the poverty line (BPL) in eight districts of Rajasthan will benefit from a unique medical care scheme – starting on April 1 this year – as part of which they will get free treatment, medicines and hospitalisation on the basis of a “smart card” issued to them.

The Central and State Governments are sponsoring the scheme in the ratio of 75:25. It will be available in all Government hospitals as well as designated private hospitals and will do away with the previous requirement of first spending the money and then claiming reimbursement.

The Director-General of the Union Labour and Employment Ministry, Anil Swaroop, called upon the State Government officials at a meeting here on Thursday to publicise the scheme extensively among BPL families to enable them to get its utmost benefit. He said the entire expenditure on preparing smart cards would be incurred by the Union Ministry.

The scheme is to be implemented in Tonk, Rajsmand, Bikaner, Karauli, Sawai Madhopur, Jalore, Barmer and Jhalawar districts. Smart cards will be distributed to BPL families in all villages across the eight districts.

State Additional Chief Secretary Parmesh Chandra said the scheme would be launched under the Rajasthan Health Insurance Project in collaboration with ICICI Lombard Insurance Company. Medical treatment valued up to Rs.30,000 will be available free of cost to the beneficiaries.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Minor raped
Free medical care for BPL families soon
“Jaipur getting contaminated water”

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu