Click to play videoChennai: After free colour TVs and rice at Re 1 per kg, Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Karunanidhi has another gift for the poor.
He's now giving them health cover and Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was there to inaugurate the Kalaignar Insurance scheme for life saving treatments. The scheme will benefit 1 crore poor families who can now avail of medical services upto Rs 1 lakh. The premium of Rs 500 per year will be paid for by the government.
Minister for health and family welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad Govt of India said, "If the Kalaignar insurance scheme for life saving treatment reduces the out of pocket expenditure of our poor households and ensures quality health services for them, it would have alleviated the pauperization of poor households as health expenses are one of the leading causes for families remaining poor."
The government has allotted Rs 517 crore for this project for this year. Star Insurance, a private insurance provider, will implement the scheme.
It has already identified 6 hospitals in each district and 15 hospitals in major cities where the scheme will be made available.
M Karunanidhi said, "The DMK believes in starting schemes that will help the needy."
It's yet another populist measure from a party known for its sops. But there's more. The CM has said that after he and his wife dies, he wants a free hospital to be built on the land he owns in his native village.
He also wants his Chennai house to be converted into a free hospital. This one is sure to take Karunanidhi closer to the masses.
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