Punjab govt extends universal health cover to Rs 5 lakh per family
TNN Bureau. Updated: 10/17/2018 4:15:23 PM
National
Chandigarh, Oct 17: Punjab government on Wednesday announced to extend the universal health cover from Rs 50,000 per year per family to Rs five lakh per year per family to all the eligible 43 lakh families in the state.
With this, Punjab became the first state in the country to provide universal health cover to people.
Capt Amarinder Singh described it as a historic moment that would bring health care within the reach of every needy person in the state, while signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Centre for implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (PMJAY) for 14.96 lakh families.
It may be recalled that the Punjab Cabinet, in its meeting held on October 3, had in-principle approved merger of the state-run health insurance scheme Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojana (BPSSBY) with PMJAY. It had also decided to extend the Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojna, which was to expire on October 31, 2018, upto December 31, 2018.
The MoU with the Centre was signed today in the presence of the Chief Minister by ACS Health Satish Chandra, on behalf of the state government, with Ayushman Bharat CEO Dr Indu Bhushan.
Speaking on the occasion, Health Minister Brahm Mohindra said the state government would take further such steps to strengthen capacity building in the health sector so as to enable all its citizens to avail timely and efficient health care services. He reiterated Punjab’s demand for 90:10 ratio in the Centre:State sharing formula, given the sensitive border location of Punjab.
Dr Bhushan hailed the state leadership for going beyond the central initiative to extend health insurance cover to the majority of the state’s population.
In response to a suggestion for a new name for the various schemes being merged, it was decided to take a final decision next month.