Health Minister U.T. Khader has said the State government will soon launch a health scheme under which money will be released immediately to schoolteachers and Group D employees who have to undergo medical treatment.
He was speaking at an event here on Friday where free hearing aids were distributed to underprivileged children as part of an outreach programme formulated by the U.S.-based Starkey Hearing Foundation, Indian Red Cross Society, ERIN Foundation, Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike.
As many as 4,500 hearing aids will be distributed as part of the Statewide programme organised to commemorate 150 years of the Red Cross. As many as 689 children will be given hearing aids in Bangalore in three days. Next, the programme will cover children in Mysore before moving on to 16 other districts in the State.
Explaining how the proposed health scheme will work, Mr. Khader said the problem with the cover provided by the State government to its employees was that it was a reimbursement-based system. “It takes over a year for the money to be reimbursed,” he said.
What the Health Department wants to do was institute a scheme called Arogya Sanjeevani under which money would be immediately released for medical treatment. “Our department will pay the money immediately and then pursue the claim with the department concerned,” he said.
