Manipur: Ukhrul locals throng Townhall for free healthcare schemes

Ukhrul: In a move to provide accessible and affordable healthcare to the common people, a first-of-its-kind mass enrollment camp on government funded-healthcare programme is undergoing at the Townhall in the Ukhrul district headquarters of Manipur.

Organised by the Manipur state health department under the Ayushman Bharat Mission and state healthcare programme, the camp is providing free registration services for Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) and Chief Minister-gi Hakshelgi Tengbang (CMHT), a chief minister healthcare scheme.

People from across Ukhrul district, including senior citizens, women and differently-abled persons, thronged the town hall to avail themselves of the free services.

Speaking to EastMojo, Rinsophy Chamroy, IEC manager, said, “We are getting a lot of applicants from across the district and this is not segregated to the people from the town. All the residents of Ukhrul district are flocking here.”

AB-PMJAY, the world’s largest government-funded healthcare programme, is a centrally sponsored scheme under Ayushman Bharat Mission. Under the scheme, the beneficiaries will get benefits of free hospitalisation up to Rs 5 lakh per year for secondary and tertiary care for poor families. Whereas, beneficiaries of the CMHT scheme will get a free hospitalisation up to Rs 2 lakh per year both for secondary and tertiary care for poor families.

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In order to receive free medical service, beneficiaries are advised to get admitted to the enlisted hospitals under the scheme.

However, according to the official, not all the citizens of the country are entitled to the services.

“For AB-PMAY, applicants registered under socio-economic caste census 2011. On the other hand, the chief minister healthcare program ‘CMHT’ is given to those families in the state who are AAY card hold/ration card, widows, differently-abled, local media persons with an authorised identity card and local newspapers hawkers,” Chamroy added.

At the time of filing this story, over 800 applicants, as per the official report, had already registered to avail themselves of the free medical care programme on the third day of the camp. Nonetheless, the organisers are expecting an overall 1,500 to 2,000 applicants by the end of the five-day-long camp. The camp will continue till June 8, Saturday.

Moreover, the organisers are also planning to reach out to the interior parts of the state where the maximum of beneficiaries get register and make the card to avail of free medical services.