Jammu, Feb 5: The Jammu and Kashmir Health Department has introduced ambitious Swasthya Bima Yojana (SBY) for workers belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL) in the State.
 Officials said the workers will be provided insurance cover worth Rs 35,000 without charging any premium from them. Initially, the project has been started in Jammu and Srinagar districts under the direct supervision of the Health Minister. They said within a year, all districts of the State are likely to be covered under the SBY.
 Sources said that the process of issuing Smart Cards is going on in both districts. Till now about 48,000 such cards have been issued in Jammu and 18,000 in Srinagar respectively.
 Pertinently the project is funded by the Union Government and will provide 90 percent of insured amount to the beneficiaries in case of any eventuality and remaining 10 percent will be provided by the State Government.
 Health Minister, Sham Lal Sharma said that Jammu and Kashmir has about 24 percent population living under BPL. “For workers belonging to this population, it was very difficult to avail any sort of insurance benefit.  So, the department has introduced SBY for insuring the working members of BPL families”, Sharma told Greater Kashmir. 
 Sharma said the workers will have to register themselves with the department and get Smart Cards to avail this facility.
 “The Yojana would be different from other insurance schemes of other different departments. A beneficiary can get benefit from this Yojana upto maximum of Rs 35,000 just by registering themselves with the Health department”, the Minister said.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 5 Feb 2012 21:30:00 Mecca time
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