Looking at the popularity of the free universal health care scheme in the state, the Rajasthan government has increased health insurance cover from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 25 lakh per family.
Similarly, the government has increased the insurance amount to Rs 10 lakh from Rs 5 lakh in the Mukhyamantri Chiranjeevi Durghatna Bima Yojana (Chief Minister Chiranjeevi Accident Insurance Scheme).
The increase in the insurance scheme is likely to be applicable from April 1, 2023.
Shafaqat, a resident of Jaipur, said it was a praiseworthy decision to increase the treatment amount to Rs 25 lakh from Rs 10 lakh.
Lalaram Meena of Shivdaspura near Jaipur said: “My brother is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Jaipur and not a penny has been spent. It was not possible for many people to get costly treatment in private hospitals,” he added.
It is due to the Chiranjeevi scheme that the people of Rajasthan are not worried about costly treatment, a senior official of the medical and health department said.
“This scheme gives assurance to people that they needn’t worry about the cost and get treated even in private hospitals for any disease and accidents.”
He said more than 3.2 million patients had been provided cashless treatment worth around Rs 3,700 crore from May 1, 2021, till now.
Expanding the ambit of beneficiaries, now the government will also bear the insurance premium of families of Economically Weaker Sections (EWS).
At present insurance premiums for categories including National Food Security Act beneficiaries, small and marginal farmers, helpless and destitute families who received Covid ex gratia, contractual employees working in all the departments, boards, corporations and government companies, and socio-economic caste census beneficiaries are paid by the government. The remaining families benefit from this scheme by paying a premium of Rs 850 per annum.
In 2022-23, free treatment is being provided in 3,297 procedures including cochlear implant, bone marrow transplant, organ transplant, blood/platelets/plasma transfusions, and limb prosthesis (bone cancer) in 1,633 selected packages. Over 830 government hospitals and around 890 private ones are empanelled in this scheme.
It may be mentioned here that the state government is planning to bring the Right to Health Bill in the Assembly session, but some private hospitals protesting this have stopped treating patients in the Chiranjeevi scheme. A delegation of private hospitals met Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and the matter is expected to be resolved soon.
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