The Times of India 30.08.2012
Civic body's health scheme for poor may benefit more
PUNE: More poor people could avail of health benefits if the proposal to raise the annual income criteria for the beneficiaries is approved.The Pune Municipal Corporation has a health scheme for the below poverty line (BPL) people with an annual income of less than Rs 1 lakh. The scheme was started on January 26, 2010. The civic body pays medical bills up to Rs 1 lakh for treatment in listed private hospitals. As many as 44 private hospitals in the city have been designated to provide medical care to the urban poor under the scheme.
The proposal to expand the annual income criteria to Rs 2 lakh was tabled before the civic women and child welfare committee recently. "Considering, the inflation rates, we had tabled the proposal to increase the annual income criteria," said NCP corporator Vishal Tambe. He added that more poor people could avail of the scheme's benefits if the income criterion is raised. The committee has forwarded the proposal to the civic administration.
Minal Sarvade, chairman of women and child welfare committee, said, "The committee members have discussed the proposal and forwarded it to the civic administration. The committee will take a final call once we hear from it."
The city has an estimated 14 lakh people living in slums, mostly deprived of basic medical facilities, but the civic body's health scheme for urban poor has benefited around 5,000 people in the last year. The financial allocation for the scheme in 2011-12 is Rs 7 crore of which Rs 4 crore has been utilized. In 2010-2011, only Rs 1 crore was spent, while the total allocation was Rs 10 crore.
