900 benefit from health scheme

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 24

A total of 900 patients have benefited from the Ayushman Bharat-Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana (AB-SSBY), which was launched in the district on August 20.

Health Department officials stated that around 1.95 lakh cards had been issued so far. The department has set a target to cover a total of 3.53 lakh identified families in the district.

“As each member of the family will be issued a separate card, the total number of cards to be issued in the district are estimated to be around 15 lakh,” said Deputy Medical Commissioner Dr Prabhdeep Kaur.

Though a total of around 90 private hospitals had applied for empanelment under the insurance scheme, the government has registered 36 of these so far. “The remaining applications are being considered,” said Dr Kaur.

Health officials stated that patients could be referred to a private hospital, in case the required treatment was not available at the government health facility. But as the district has a Government Medical College having all specialities and super-specialities, most patients would getting treatment from the government hospital.

Dr Kaur said people could check their eligibility for the insurance scheme on the website, www.shapunjab.in and get themselves registered with the nearest centre. “The government has engaged Common Service Centres in every locality and these are easily accessible to the public. A beneficiary will just have to pay a fee of Rs30 to avail the card,” said Civil Surgeon Dr Hardeep Singh Ghai.

Dr Ghai said government hospitals were equipped with experienced doctors and better infrastructure than most of the private hospitals. He said people would be benefited from the scheme as they would not have to spend any money for the treatment.