Publish beneficiary list of urban poor health scheme on website: PMC standing committee chairman instructs health dept

Standing committee chairman of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Hemant Rasane instructed the health department to publish the beneficiary list of the urban poor health scheme on the civic body’s website. 

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Almost 17,000 citizens have registered for the PMC’s health scheme for urban poor this year.

PMC is currently spending almost Rs100 crore in order to execute the health scheme in collaboration with prominent city private hospitals. With the PMC’s expenditure increasing day by day, there have been allegations of fake beneficiaries taking benefit of the scheme. So, to bring in more transparency in the scheme, there has been a demand to make the beneficiary list public.

Recently, civic activist Vijay Kumbar wrote a letter to the municipal corporation and appealed to them to publish the beneficiary list on the civic body’s website. 

Rasane said that the demand is logical and that the PMC should publish the beneficiary list on website without specifying the illness. 

“I have instructed the health department head to publish the beneficiary list on the website. There is nothing wrong in declaring the names as the PMC is helping these citizens. It would help bring in more transparency in the scheme.” 

A few years ago, a police case was filed against the municipal commissioner and some elected members of the civic body after one foreign national took benefit of the scheme, meant only for residents of the city. 

Under the urban poor health scheme, citizens can take treatment in city’s private hospitals and PMC bears 50 per cent of the medical expenditure and provides medicines free of cost. 

The scheme is open for all who live in Pune city, but the beneficiary should be from the lower income group.