Chandigarh, September 22:
Showcasing their awareness graph, females of Punjab have taken more benefits of Ayushman Bharat-Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojna (AB-SSBY) in comparative of males under which 51 percent females and 49 percent males have taken the benefit. This pro-people health insurance scheme is aimed to provide secondary as well as tertiary healthcare services at the doorsteps of beneficiaries through empanelled hospitals.
Disclosing this here today, the Health and Family Welfare Minister Mr. Balbir Singh Sidhu said that Punjab became the best performing state in the country by empanelling 767 Private and Government hospitals, where more than 3.95 lakh patients have got free treatment facility of Rs.455.46 crore under the scheme. He said that around 46 lakhs e-cards have been issued so far. “Till now, more than 6700 heart surgeries, 1 lakh dialysis, 7600 newly born babies got treatment facility, 4000 joint replacements and more than 9300 cancer patients have got the benefit of treatment under AB-SSBY”, he added.
The Health Minister disclosed that district Bathinda with more than 44,000 patients leads in Punjab in the case of maximum number of beneficiaries availed the treatment benefit under the scheme. Similarly, the district Ludhiana generated maximum number of 4.25 lakh E-cards in State.
Sharing the two incidents regarding the benefit of AB-SSBY, he said that Mr. Talib Khan who works as a labourer, was suffering from chronic Knee and Hip pain from few years and wasn’t able to work. He came to know about the AB-SSBY from one of his acquaintance and got his E-card generated with the help of local medical practitioner. He then went to Civil Hospital Mansa where he was first treated for total Knee Replacement. Then after recovering from this surgery, he was again gone through treatment for the replacement of his Hip under the scheme.
Talib Khan quoted that he felt like a burden on the family as he couldn’t work. With the help of AB-SSBY, two big surgeries are done which would have cost him around 5-6 lakhs otherwise. He said that he never thought of being normal again as he knew his financial limitations but with the help of this scheme, he got free Hip and Knee replacement surgeries. He is expecting to be able to work again in a few months and feels like having a new life.
Similarly, Balwinder Singh of Jaito (Faridkot) a driver by profession, has faced severe pain in the chest and was taken to Delhi Heart Institute & Multi-specialty Hospital (Bathinda) in an emergency. Balwinder and his family were aware of the AB-SSBY and has his card already generated. He was admitted and treated under the scheme by the hospital without charging any money where with the help of this scheme he got free treatment and now he started normal working again.
Highlighting the features of AB-SSBY, the Minister said that under this Scheme Farmers, Small Traders, registered Construction Workers, Accredited yellow card holder Journalists, Smart Ration card holders are entitled for health insurance cover of up to 5 lakh per year per family. He also asserted that in Punjab AB-SSBY has successfully completed one year of implementation on August 20, 2020. Subsequently, in the second year there has been an increase in the health benefit packages to 1579.
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