Kohima, January 29: Nagaland state’s labour department has covered BPL/AAY families and MGNREGA job holders of the state through Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY).
In view of the 50 years of the statehood of Nagaland, the labour department will cover other groups like taxi drivers, construction workers, domestic helpers, street vendors and rickshaw pullers from the next phase of enrolment, according to the compendium of various activities of the state departments in commemoration of 50 years of statehood.
This exercise will provide health security to underprivileged population of the state.
Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY, a "National Health Insurance Programme" is a government-run health insurance scheme for the Indian poor. It provides for cashless insurance for hospitalisation in public as well private hospitals. The scheme started enrolling on April 1, 2008 and has been implemented in 25 states of India. A total of 23 million families have been enrolled as of February 2011. The RSBY is a project under the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
RSBY has been launched to provide health insurance coverage for Below Poverty Line (BPL) families.
The objective of RSBY is to provide protection to households from financial liabilities arising out of health shocks that involve hospitalization.
Source stated that in the Union Budget for 2012-13, the government made a total allocation of INR 1096.7 crore towards RSBY. Although meant to cover the entire BPL population,(about 37.2 per cent of the total Indian population according to the Tendulkar committee estimates) it had enrolled only around 10 per cent of the Indian population by March 31, 2011. Also, it is expected to cost the exchequer at least INR3,350 crore a year to cover the entire BPL population.
The scheme has won plaudits from the World Bank, the UN and the ILO as one of the world's best health insurance schemes.
