Smartcards: poor given training

Smartcards issued to 23,144 below poverty lines families

The Departments of Health and Labour on Monday jointly organised a training programme for Accredited Social Health Activists or ASHA workers and nurses on how to improve the usage of smartcards issued to below poverty line families under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana.

Under the Yojana, BPL families can claim medical expenses of up to Rs. 30,000 a year from the Government for treatment obtained at any government hospital or designated private hospital.

Smartcards were issued to 23,144 below poverty lines families in the district in April and May, but only Rs. 42 lakh has been claimed under the scheme until now, Assistant Labour Commissioner Venkatesh Shindihatti said during the inauguration programme.

At the programme, ASHA workers were trained on how they could give correct information to families about the scheme to help them make optimum use of it, he said.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Prabhakar Sharma said that 30 private hospitals had been identified by the Government for the scheme.

“If there are any complaints or if patients are refused treatment by private hospitals, then we (government) can inquire into it. It will help us in keeping an eye on their (private hospitals) billing practices,” Mr. Sharma said.

District Health Officer O. Srirangappa said that until now only 57 per cent of the workers in the unorganised sector had been covered under the scheme.