Mizoram yet to pay Rs 59.63 cr under MSHCS to beneficiaries

Aizawl: The Mizoram government has over Rs 59.63 crore health insurance to be paid to 23,031 beneficiaries under the Mizoram State Health Care Scheme (MSHCS), state health minister Dr. R. Lalthangliana informed the state assembly on Tuesday.

Replying to a query from opposition Congress member Lalrindika Ralte, the health minister said the medical bills could not be released due to insufficient funds. 

The MSHCS was launched by the Mizo National Front (MNF) government headed by Chief Minister Zoramthanga in October 2019. Under this scheme, beneficiaries are provided up to Rs 2 lakh health insurance in a year and cover all illnesses, he said.

The health care scheme is valid for one year and the previous term, which commenced from October 1, 2020, had ended on September 30 last year. The government had, however, extended the existing period up to March 2022, as it decided to implement the health care scheme in accordance with the financial year from the next fiscal.

According to the health minister, a total of 1,13,720 beneficiaries have been registered under the health care scheme. 

He said that more than Rs 3.21 crore was collected from beneficiaries registered under the health care scheme for the extended period between October 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022. He said no beneficiaries, who registered for the health care scheme for the extended period, have received their medical bills till now.

The health minister said that the government is making all efforts to clear all the pending bills.

The minister added that around Rs 1,000 crore is expected from Asian Development Bank as an external aided fund for the scheme. He added that Rs 4 crore would soon be released from the corpus fund.

Chief Minister Zoramthanga also said that the health care scheme was being launched by his government amid financial constraints and various crises to assist the people.

The government is making efforts to clear all the health insurance due to the beneficiaries, he said.

He added that the state government has allocated Rs 50 crore as health care corpus fund in 2019-2020 budget fiscal and Rs 20 crore under the state’s flagship programme- Socio-Economic Development Policy (SEDP) in 2020-2021 fiscal to implement the healthcare scheme. 

Mizoram has third highest active Covid-19 cases in India