Kamal Nath government brings medical insurance cover for state employees

BHOPAL: Kamal Nath government on Saturday decided to bring 12.55 lakh state employees, pensioners and their families under medical insurance cover. The decision was taken at the cabinet meeting headed by the chief minister at the state secretariat on Saturday afternoon.

Minister for health Tulsi Silawat said, "Mukhya Mantri Samohik Swasth Bima Yojana (Chief Minister’s Group Health Insurance Scheme) effective from April 1 will make every government employee and his or her family eligible for free medical treatment up to Rs 5 lakh per annum. For some critical diseases, eligibility may be increased to Rs 10 lakh per annum. OPD (Out Patient Department) treatment in hospitals will be free up to Rs 10,000 per annum."

Claiming it as a historic decision taken by the state government, Tulsi Silawat said that retired state government employees under previous regimes received free medication worth Rs 288 per annum. While all employees will be eligible for Rs 5 lakh medical treatment, permission will be necessary from a state-level medical board for approval to increase the insurance cover to Rs 10 lakh for specific critical diseases.

Those who will be covered under the insurance scheme include 5,73,752 state government employees of various departments, another 1,79,470 government school teachers and 4,91,666 retired state personnel. Implementation of the scheme will incur a financial burden of Rs 756.54 crore on the exchequer. Portion of the premium will be deducted from employees’ salaries and the amount will be determined through the salary grades.

Source: The Times of India