New Delhi: The BPL families in the country will be provided with a chip-enabled smart card as part of a health insurance scheme which will come into force from tomorrow.

A chip containing all details of a BPL worker and his family with a photograph would be operational which would give them access to some of the listed hospitals and treatment at any point of time anywhere in the country.

The Labour Ministry under Rashtriya Swasthya Beema Yojna (RSBY) had launched the "chip-enabled smart card" on January 25 this year but there were formalities to be completed to make it functional, highly placed sources in the ministry said.

Every family would be getting a cover of Rs 30,000. There are some of the areas that still needs to be worked out. Ailments like AIDS will not be covered under this scheme. However, government is trying to work out with the insurance companies to provide some cover to the patients at a later stage.

"We are not in a stage to commit anything about AIDS or critical aliments but we are hopeful," a highly placed source in the ministry said.

Rashtriya Swasthya Beema Yojna (RSBY) will cover 1.2 crore of BPL workers in the current year. The total expenditure on providing them a shield for treatment upto Rs 30,000 is likely to cost government 973.50 crore.

There will be three parties involved in the whole scheme of things. The insurance agency, hospital and the government representative to ensure the free and fair distribution of the cards.

There will be annual contribution of government of about Rs 750 which is 75 per cent of the estimated annual premimum, they said.
Source : PTI