Mumbai: In a significant move, the Maharashtra government on Friday announced that the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MJPJAY), the insurance scheme for the poor, will now cover all people with ration card and domicile certificate in the state.
At present, the scheme covers 85% of the population; but now the remaining 15% — including government and semi-government employees, and white ration card holders — will also benefit under it. Public Health Minister Rajesh Tope announced the decision on the occasion of Maharashtra Day on Friday.
Tope informed that Maharashtra will be the first state to cover almost 100 per cent population under the scheme. In all, 1000 treatments at a cost of Rs 1.5 lakh per year are covered in 900 empanelled hospitals in the state. The government proposes to increase another 100 empanelled hospitals.
At present, the beneficiaries are yellow-and-orange ration card holders. In the 14-farmer suicide-affected districts, the scheme also covers white ration card holders. While the MJPJAY is based on ration cards, the PMJAY, unveiled in Maharashtra in September 2018, has beneficiaries identified on the basis of the Socio-Economic Caste Census, 2011.
MJPJAY’s chief operating officer Sudhakar Shinde told FPJ: “During the 2019-20 fiscal, the government’s outgo on implementation of the scheme was Rs 1,700 crore, of which Rs 300 crore was GoI’s contribution. With today’s decision, the government will spend Rs 2,000 crore in 2020-21.”
Meanwhile, Tope said that the state government has come out with an order prohibiting the hospitals to charge exorbitant fees even to the COVID 19 patients. ”As per the provisions of Disaster Management Act, 2005, now the hospitals and healthcare centres cannot recover charges from patients at inflated rates.
It will be mandatory for hospitals and healthcare centres to display at a prominent place details of all types of charges prescribed and it will be their duty to explain to the patient and relatives details of all types of charges,” he noted.