E-Paper
8.5 lakh farmers in Punjab can avail Ayushman health insurance scheme this fiscal
Punjab mandi board secretary Ravi Bhagat added that eligible farmers can apply online on portal to avail the health facilities from empanelled hospitals from August 20.
Chandigarh The Punjab government has decided to bring nearly 8.5 lakh farmers and their families under the ambit of health insurance cover in line with the ‘Ayushman Bharat Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana’ for 2021-22 fiscal. Farmers having ‘J’ forms and ‘sugarcane weighment slips’ would be eligible for the scheme.
To facilitate farmers, the Punjab Mandi Board has launched a dedicated portal. Now, farmers do not need to visit market committee office to apply manually as was the case earlier. Interested farmers can apply on Mandi Board’s portal https://emandikaran-pb.in, with uploading of required documents.
Mandi board secretary Ravi Bhagat added that eligible farmers can apply online on portal to avail the health facilities from empanelled hospitals from August 20.
Punjab Mandi Board chairman Lal Singh said the board would pay the premium for the insurance cover for farmers to get cashless treatment facility of up to ₹5 lakh per annum. He added that these farmers and their families will now be covered with effect from August 20.
He also added that the number of farmers covered under health insurance scheme during the last year of the scheme stood at around 5 lakh based on ‘J’ forms and ‘sugarcane weighment slips’. Now, the number of farmers has reached nearly 8.5 lakh with 7.9 lakh farmers having ‘J’ forms registered with the mandi board and 55,000 cane growers.
Lal Singh added that these 5 lakh farmers, who have already been registered under Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojna during last year, need not re-apply on the portal, as they will be extended the benefit for next year based on earlier documents, but remaining 3.5 lakh farmers registered as ‘J’ form holders and ‘Sugarcane Weighment Slips’ after October 1, 2020, would have to apply on the portal for availing health insurance.
He added that apart from the family head, husband/wife, father/mother, unmarried children, divorced daughter and her minor children, widowed daughter-in-law and her minor children would be eligible. For more information, toll free number 104 or the website mandiboard.nic.in can be referred to. Thess farmers can approach any of the 642 empanelled private hospitals and 208 government hospitals for treatment facility of up to ₹5 lakh for 1,579 diseases, including major surgical treatments such as heart surgery, cancer treatment, joint replacement and accident cases.
