Bhubaneswar: In a bid to ensure health insurance to the farmers, the state government has extended the coverage period of Biju Krushak Kalyan Yojana (BKKY) from March 2018 to July end this year.
A decision in this regard was taken at the meeting of the High Power Committee on BKKY, held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi here at Secretariat, Monday. Padhi asked the concerned officials to continue conducting awareness campaigns for BKKY in a massive way. The officials have been asked to ensure that the benefits of the health insurance scheme reach all farming families, who have been covered under the scheme.
It was decided at the meeting to provide a specific amount of cash initiative to nursing and other paramedical staff of hospitals, who will help to promote maximum use of the BKKY cards at their respective hospital.
In all, over 5,764,369 farm families have been covered under the scheme. The state government has deposited insurance premium worth Rs 405.38 crore to the insurance companies to provide health insurance coverage to the farming families. So far, the beneficiaries have been receiving health-related benefits worth Rs 279 crore from various hospitals. As many as 423 government and 128 private hospitals have been registered under the scheme.
To provide free health care facility and medicines to farmers and their family members, the state government had launched the BKKY scheme in November 2013. As per the scheme, the farming families (five members each) under APL and BPL categories are eligible for insurance coverage of Rs 1 lakh per year.
PNN
