The North News
Chandigarh, September 22
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Monday announced the start of registration for the state’s new universal health insurance scheme, which promises cashless treatment of up to ₹10 lakh per family. Speaking to reporters in Chandigarh, Chief Minister Mann said the pilot registration drive under the Mukh Mantri Sehat Yojna will begin on Tuesday in Barnala and Tarn Taran districts. Camps will be set up in 128 locations in each district, and registration is expected to be completed within 10 to 12 days. Applicants will only need to bring an Aadhaar card, voter ID and a passport photo.
Chief Minister Mann said feedback from the pilot phase would be used to fine-tune the process before the scheme is rolled out across Punjab. Once launched, every resident will be eligible for a Chief Minister’s Health Card, which can be used at government and empanelled private hospitals for more than 2,000 procedures and surgeries. There will be no cap on the number of family members covered.
The Chief Minister described the scheme as “historic” and the first of its kind in India, saying it would make Punjab the country’s first state to provide universal health insurance of up to ₹10 lakh. Government employees, ASHA workers and Anganwadi workers will also be included. The Chief Minister further said that the initiative builds on improvements in the state’s healthcare system, including the opening of 881 Aam Aadmi Clinics, increased availability of medicines in government hospitals, and expanded access to primary care. He said the number of people using government health services had risen from 34 lakh to 1.08 crore in three years.
Criticising the Centre, the Chief Minister accused the Union government of rolling back its own GST policy and withholding states’ dues. He also urged BJP leaders not to politicise the issue of floods, calling their statements “dictated from their high command.” Mann further announced that a medical college would be built in Sangrur on land to be identified by the state after the SGPC refused to provide land. He accused the Sikh religious body of acting under the influence of the Badal family. He also reiterated that no ration card in Punjab would be deleted, adding that the state had sought six months’ time from the Centre to verify cards after the floods. He criticised the current criteria for deleting ration cards as “absurd.”
