Shillong, Dec 3: The Meghalaya government on Monday announced its plans to launch the Megha Health Insurance Scheme (MHIS) phase-IV on December 20.
This was announced by Health Minister, A.L Hek after an agreement was signed with the Reliance General Insurance Company Limited for the implementation of MHIS-IV in convergence with the Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) of the Central govenrment.
The Health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh is meant for all families of the state, excluding employees of the State and Central governments.
The agreement was signed on behalf of the State government by Pravin Bakshi who is the MHIS chief executive officer and secretary in-charge Health and Family Welfare, while Dr Saumya Kumar Misra, Segment Head – Government Business Group signed the agreement for Reliance General Insurance Company Limited.
The agreement signing ceremony was held at the state Main Secretariat in the presence of Hek and other officials.
After a fresh tender was floated recently, the Meghalaya government selected the Reliance General Insurance Company Limited which emerged as the successful bidder with a premium quote of Rs 1,630 per household per year.
Bakshi said that after a rigorous selection procedure, Reliance General Insurance Company Limited emerged as the lowest bidder for implementation of the health insurance scheme.
Hek said that the state government wanted to launch the MHIS-IV on December 20 which will be a present to the people before Christmas.
Stating that the state has been making continuous efforts to roll out the scheme at the earliest, Bakshi informed that registration for MHIS-IV in convergence with AB-PMJAY will start at the beginning of the New Year.
“The registration procedures and locations will be made known prior to the start, on various platforms of the mass media and at local level as well,†Bakshi said.
Meanwhile, Congress legislator from East Shillong, Ampareen Lyngdoh who is also the Chairperson of the Assembly Committee on Women Empowerment urged the state government to speed up the process of implementing the MHIS-Phase IV for the benefit of the people especially the poor.
The MHIS-IV will converge with Centre’s Ayushman Bharat to provide a health insurance of Rs 5 lakh per family with an increased number of treatment/disease to be made available to the public.
The health scheme would cover 8 lakh households in the state. The number of beneficiaries from poor families in the state is 3.41 lakh households, under the category of lowest income group in the state according to the Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011.
For beneficiaries from the category of lowest income families, 90 per cent of the cost would be borne by the Centre and 10 per cent by the state. The cost for beneficiaries from the rest of households would be borne by the state.