To facilitate the secondary and tertiary healthcare services to around 46 lakhs families of State under ‘Ayushman Bharat Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojna’, the process of generating e-cards is in full swing at Common Service Centres (CSC) and hospitals in State. The State Government has issued the 17.02 Lakhs e-cards in month of August. It was disclosed here today in press communiqué by Health & Family Welfare Minister Punjab Mr. Balbir Singh Sidhu. Balbir Singh Sidhu said that the dedicated State Health Agency was overseeing the all functioning of CSC and hospitals where these e-cards were being issued to the eligible families. He further said that instructions had already been issued to the district authorities to ensure the medical facilities were being provided under this Universal Health Insurance Scheme.Revealing further, Mr. Balbir Singh Sidhu said that the treatment under the Scheme commenced from 20th August, 2019 in Punjab and within the first 10 days, more than 1591 patients across Punjab had been admitted to Public and Private hospitals and provided cashless treatment under the Scheme. Among 1591 Patients, 661 Beneficiaries got tertiary healthcare facilities.Lauding the department for putting in the best efforts in such a short span of time, Mr. Balbir Singh Sidhu also said that Punjab now stood in row of leading States in North India. He said that it was a matter of record that in just 10 Days after launching of the Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojna’, around 17.02 lakh e-cards have been issued to the beneficiaries as our neighboring States are far behind from us.
The Health Minister said that this flagship scheme was launched by the Chief Minister Punjab Captain Amarinder Singh. The Chief Minister had given his principle approval to extend the cover of this welfare scheme to 45.89 lakh families (75% of the State population) under 5 more categories namely Smart Ration card holders, Small Traders, J-form holder farmers, Small and Marginal farmers and Accredited and Yellow card holder Journalists as the Central Government only entitled the families identified in the SECC Census (2011).“With this path-breaking initiative of the Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, more than 2 crore people of Punjab will be given the health protection under this Insurance Scheme. He reiterated that the Government of Punjab was fully committed to providing better health services”, he added.Mr. Balbir Singh Sidhu said that the Scheme does not discriminate on the basis of number, age or gender of the family members and that all the members of the family are included for access to free in-patient health services. The main objective of the Scheme is to provide free health services to the people so that the economic burden on people for treatment can be reduced.Minister of Health and Family Welfare Punjab, Sh. Balbir Singh Sidhu expounded that the State Health Agency has provided training to the empanelled Private and Government hospitals and has ensured that Arogya Mitras are appointed in all the empanelled hospitals to help the patients and facilitate their cashless treatment. Mr. Balbir Singh Sidhu also informed that for more information and to check their eligibility, beneficiaries can log on to www.shapunjab.in.