Ayushman cover likely for all city residents

Chandigarh: If all goes well, all Chandigarh residents will be covered under Ayushman Bharat, the health insurance coverage provided by the Centre. The Union minister of health and family welfare, Mansukh Mandaviya, told UT adviser Dharam Pal on Friday to start the process in the city. The minister was in the city to inaugurate the CGHS health and wellness centres in Sector 29. "We want to saturate this scheme in the next few months," said the adviser.

The BJP state president, Arun Sood, had sent a proposal to the health minister. "We got the letter and were informed that insurance mode can be adopted for the city. However, on our request, the minister approved the trust-mode method in-principle," said Sood.

He said, "There is a plan where in the trust mode a beneficiary has to pay Rs 1,500 monthly for insurance coverage of Rs 5 lakh for a year. But this is being discussed and we will come out with a roadmap." There are 12 lakh beneficiaries in the city who will be covered and the scheme will be applied for the entire country. Already, around 2 lakh beneficiaries have been enrolled for the scheme from the city.