CHENNAI: Elderly people aged 70 years and above across Tamil Nadu can soon avail of free health insurance coverage without income cap under a new ‘Chief Minister’s Elderly Health Insurance Scheme’, Health Minister KG Arunraj said on Monday. He made 115 announcements during the discussion on the Demand for Grants for Health Department in the Assembly.
Arunraj said the scheme will benefit 38 lakh people, and beneficiaries can avail of super specialty treatment — including cancer treatment, organ transplants, and diagnostics services.
The scheme will be available in all government and private empanelled hospitals. Under the existing Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (CMCHIS), a beneficiary can claim insurance cover of up to Rs 5 lakh for treatments and surgeries, and Rs 22 lakh for organ transplant.
Rs 51 crore towards ‘Nalam 360’ for free yearly checkups for all aged 30 & above
Under CMCHIS, people drawing an annual income of Rs 1.20 lakh are eligible. The new insurance scheme has no income limit and all those above 70 are eligible for coverage.
Focusing on preventive health care, for the first time, the state has also announced free annual health checkups, ‘Nalam 360-Master Health Check Up’, for all aged 30 and above under the ‘Nalam 360’ scheme. The scheme will cover 14 basic tests annually, including blood pressure, ECG, haemoglobin, complete hemogram, random blood sugar, urea, creatinine, and total cholesterol.
The state government has allocated Rs 51 crore for this comprehensive free health checkup. It will be done in 36 government medical college hospitals, 295 government hospitals, 424 upgraded primary health centres, 39 urban community health centres and 463 urban primary health centres, the minister said, adding that the initiative will help diagnose non communicable disease in the early state and prevent them.
The minister also announced ‘Home Based Diagnostic Services’ under public-private partnership (PPP) mode in corporation areas based on pre-booking. Under the scheme, health workers will go to the home of the beneficiaries and collect samples, he added.
The health department will also extend the ‘assisted reproductive’ services to more hospitals. The ‘Level I Assisted Reproductive Centre’ will be established at a cost of Rs 14 crore at 31 government medical college hospitals and six district headquarters hospitals, including Namakkal, Tirunelveli, Tiruvannamalai and Virudhunagar, he added.