Click to play videoSaharanpur (Uttar Pradesh): It may look like a pre-election campaign but it's actually the Government's drive to ensure better health. Men and women in Talheri Buzurg in western UP line-up everyday to receive the benefits of a proposal made in the Union Budget in 2008 to provide health cards to un-organised workers below the poverty line.
A family photo, a thumbprint, Rs 30 and a card is all that Mahinder, Leela and hundreds of others need to get health insurance upto Rs 30,000 for the entire family.
A simple swipe of the smart card has ensured that 65-year-old Kishen gets a hospital bed and free medical care in a private hospital in Palwal, Haryana.
“Government was very concerned about providing social security to the unorganised sector workers because there weren't too many schemes to take care of them. Ninty-four per cent of the workers in this country are unorganised,” Director General, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Anil Swarup said.
According to officials, 20 lakh families have been issued smart cards since April 2008 in Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan. After witnessing the relative success of this health programme, officials say that 22 more states have agreed to spend on this scheme.
So what's the catch? Like many social welfare schemes that the Government has put in place over successive budgets – be it Sarva Sikha Abhiyan or mid-day meal scheme – this scheme does not suffer from lack of funds or reach, but perhaps the infrastructure required to make it meaningful.
Presently, the health care resources and facilities available in hospitals in small towns may not be adequate enough to service the growing number of health card holders.
But Rashtriya Swasthay Bima Yojana is just one of many the health schemes that the Government has been ambitiously driving. So expect it to get more funds and a mention in the speech during the interim budget, which will be held a week from now.
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