The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Health insurance for poor families

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Sunday, Nov 02, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Health insurance for poor families

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa on Saturday announced that the State Government would implement Arogya Suraksha Yojane, a health insurance scheme, for the poor families with help from the Centre.

The Chief Minister said Arogya Suraksha scheme will provide medical insurance of Rs. 1 lakh to each poor family.

Under the scheme, the State Government will pay the premium for the medical insurance. This is expected to cost about Rs. 300 crore a year.

To begin with, the scheme will be launched in the five backward districts of Gulbarga, Raichur, Koppal, Bidar and Bellary. All the 29 districts of the State will be brought under the scheme in about one year. In all, the scheme is expected to cover about four crore people from 80 lakh families, he said.

Recruitment

Mr. Yeddyurappa said the Government was in the process of recruiting 5,000 doctors, nurses and paramedical staff to ensure that there was no shortage of medical staff in its hospitals. He said he had sanctioned Rs. 87 crore in this year’s budget for upgrading Government hospitals, Primary Health Centres, taluk and district hospitals. This would help provide quality health care to people in urban and rural areas. Similarly, the Government had provided Rs. 8 crore for a super speciality hospital in Indiranagar, in Bangalore, he said.

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