Chandigarh, Oct 3 (IANS) After refusing to join the recently launched central healthcare scheme, the Congress government in Punjab on Wednesday gave in-principle approval to the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (PMJAY) in the state.
The Punjab cabinet on Wednesday extended the central scheme to cover over 42 lakh families.
The cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, decided to set up a committee under the Chief Secretary to work out the financial modalities for the implementation of the scheme.
The scheme will be implemented at an estimated cost of over Rs 300 crore by cutting the budgets of other departments, as and where necessary, a spokesperson for the Chief Minister said here.
"While PMJAY had proposed to cover 14.96 lakh SECC (Socio-Economic Caste Census) families in the state, the Amarinder government has decided to extend the scheme to provide Rs 5 lakh insurance cover to 42 lakh of the total 61 lakh families in the state.
"These include families of farmers, construction workers and small traders, as well as other poor families (currently covered under the Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojana - BPSSBY)," the spokesperson said.
With another 6-7 lakh government employees already covered, only a few rich families are left out of the purview of the scheme, thus effectively reaching out to the entire population of the state, he added.
The cabinet also authorized the Chief Minister to rename the scheme for Punjab, where the Congress in its election manifesto had committed itself to providing universal health insurance.
The spokesperson said that the estimated cost of an annual premium of Rs 1,082 per family would be shared between the central and state governments in the ratio of 60:40, which would cost Rs 65 crore to the state government annually.
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