Govt issues about 15 lakh smart cards under RSBY

Raipur, July 12, 2011

With an aim to provide free-of-cost medical facility to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in unorganised sector under Centrally-sponsored Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY), the state government has by far issued 1499447 smart cards. Besides BPL families, the government is also issuing smart cards to families affected by naxal violence, labourers engaged in civil works, mitanins and contractual employees of RSBY.

The Health and Family Welfare Minister Amar Agrawal informed that the state government had empanelled 669 hospitals for free-of-cost treatment of the BPL families having smart cards. The treatment and hospitalisation expenditure on the beneficiaries is being completely incurred by the insurance company.

Till date, about 65345 beneficiaries have taken treatment through smart cards and the government has paid Rs 30.27 crore to insurance company, informed Agrawal.

He said the government had set target to prepare smart cards for about 2439914 BPL families. By far, it has registered 18.67 lakh BPL families and issued 14.13 lakh smart cards, he added.

Presently, the government has issued 17064 smart cards to the labourers engaged in civil works, 1831 families affected by naxal violence, 60000 mitanins and 5000 RSBY contractual employees.

Agrawal said the government was also planning to extend benefit of smart cards to porters at Railway station, workers of unorganised sector, bidi workers, street vendors and domestic helps. “After inclusion of these people, over half of the state’s population would start getting benefit under RSBY,” he said.

Notably, the RSBY was formally launched on October 1, 2007 with an objective to provide the insurance cover to BPL households from major health shocks that involve hospitalisation. In Chhattisgarh, the treatment of patients through smart cards started about twenty months back and in short span of time the state got national award for achieving 100 percent target under RSBY.

The highest number of smart cards has been issued to the BPL families in Raipur - 231876 district followed by Durg- 156860 and Bilaspur - 139658.

The smart cards issued in other districts are – Rajnandgaon – 79083, Sarguja – 100053, Bastar (Jagdalpur) – 114758, Narayanpur – 8020, North Bastar (Kanker) – 50735, Dhamtari – 45502, Raigarh – 135456, Korba – 69958, Janjgir-Champa – 79668, Jashpur – 53326, South Bastar (Dantewada) – 685, Bijapur – 6987, Mahasamund – 73094, Kabeerdham – 59997 and Koria – 40895.

Under RSBY, the BPL families are entitled to more than 700 in-patient medical procedures with a cost of up to Rs 30000 every year for a nominal registration fee of Rs 30. The RSBY facilitates coverage of pre-existing medical conditions of the BPL families and there is no age limit for treatment. The insurance coverage extends from the head of household to the spouse along with three dependents.