CHANDIGARH: With a year left for the Punjab Assembly elections, the state government on Wednesday rolled out the ambitious Mukh Mantri Sehat Yojana, providing free cashless medical treatment of up to Rs 10 lakh per family.
The scheme was launched by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in the presence of AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal.
The universal healthcare scheme will be extended to all 65 lakh families in the state. Any resident of Punjab possessing an Aadhaar card and a voter card will be eligible to avail its benefits.
More than 2,500 medical procedures are covered under the scheme through government hospitals and empanelled private hospitals.
Addressing a gathering after launching the scheme, Kejriwal said, “The work that is going to be done in Punjab today should perhaps have been done back in 1950. Over the past 75 years, many governments came and went, but none of them truly cared for the people. Big promises were made, but the public was neglected. There was a time when Punjab was plagued by severe terrorism, and then came a phase when drugs were rampant.”
Referring to election promises, Kejriwal said that during campaigning he and Mann spoke about “Kejriwal’s Guarantees”, one of which was a health guarantee to provide free and quality healthcare to every citizen of Punjab. “People did not believe it back then,” he said.
He added that free electricity was now being provided and good schools were being built. “Free healthcare arrangements had been started earlier, but today’s step is a very big one. In the past four years, the government has built around 1,000 mohalla clinics located in villages and neighbourhoods,” he asserted.
He further claimed, “In the next four to five months, 2,500 ‘Pind Clinics’ will be opened in every village. The work that previous governments did in 75 years, this government has perhaps done ten times that in just four years.”
Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann said health cards would be issued to all 65 lakh families, covering nearly three crore citizens of Punjab.
“For the first time, no income limit has been fixed for any health scheme in the state. With the launch of this scheme today, Punjab has set a new benchmark for the entire country,” he said, adding that Punjab had become the first state to provide free healthcare, free education, free electricity and free bus travel for women.
Mann said government employees, pensioners and all other citizens would be eligible for the health card. “These health cards can be obtained from facilitation centres and Common Service Centres, or through online registration using Aadhaar card or voter card,” he said, adding that youth club members would also assist citizens by making cards door to door.
He said that 850 government and private hospitals had already been empanelled under the scheme and more hospitals would be added in the coming days.
Mann said more than 2,356 treatment packages had been included under the scheme, compared to 1,600 earlier.
“Specialised treatments such as Orthopaedics, General Medicine, Cardiology, Neurology, Nephrology, Urology, Oncology and several others are being offered,” he said.
He added that the scheme covers cardiac procedures, cancer treatment, kidney dialysis and transplants, brain and spine surgeries, maternity and newborn care, accident and emergency services, knee and hip replacement surgeries, cataract surgery and other critical treatments.
Mann said diagnostic services had also been included along with hospital expenses. “Any citizen can now get free treatment at any government or private hospital in Punjab or Chandigarh,” he said, adding that hospitals would be paid within 15 days of treatment.
He noted that the state government had already paid the advance premium to the insurance company to ensure smooth implementation of the scheme.