ITANAGAR, 29 Jun: Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Tuesday said that a target to cover every eligible citizen of the state under the Chief Minister’s Arogya Arunachal Yojana (CMAAY) must be set and achieved.
He said this while chairing a governing council meeting of the Chief Minister’s Arogya Arunachal Society (CMAAS), which is the nodal agency for implementing the CMAAY, which envisages providing cashless treatment at empanelled hospitals to the citizens of the state. The beneficiaries under the scheme include all APST citizens and state government employees.
Congratulating CMAAS Chief Executive Officer Dr Nabam Peter and his team under the guidance of the principal health secretary and the health secretary “for ensuring that the scheme reaches maximum beneficiaries,” the CM also advocated roping in “as many hospitals as possible on need basis.”
“The main objective of the scheme in the long run should be to focus on and put in place robust preventive measures from the data collected while implementing the scheme.
The name of the scheme itself mentions ‘Arogya Arunachal’. That means ‘disease-free Arunachal’, which can be achieved only through preventive measures and healthy lifestyle,” he said.
Khandu urged the principal secretary and the secretary of health to coordinate with the chief secretary, the planning commissioner and the IT secretary to make the scheme hassle-free for the common citizens as well as the empanelled hospitals in a transparent manner.
He suggested putting in place ways and means to ease the enrollment process of beneficiaries.
To the concern raised over aids given from the CMRF for treatment, running parallel with the CMAAY, Khandu asked the officials to review and suggest a way forward. He said that diseases that require processes like organ transplant are quite costly and many poor patients may not be able to avail it. Therefore he suggested that such patients may be allowed to avail benefits under the CMAAY as well as the CMRF with recommendations from the nodal agency.
Dr Peter informed that the CMAAY along with the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, launched in 2018, has enrolled 1.01 lakh beneficiary families so far. “An enrolled family is entitled to a sum of Rs 5 lakhs per year for cashless treatment in empanelled hospitals.
Till date, 81 hospitals have been empanelled, of which 27 are out of Arunachal Pradesh, 15 being in neighbouring Assam,” he said.
As per records, the top procedures utilized by beneficiaries are for LSCS, cataract, cholecystectomy, appendicectomy and chemotherapy. TRIHMS in Naharlagun stands at the top in giving free and cashless treatment to most number of beneficiaries under the scheme, followed by Bakin Pertin General Hospital in Pasighat, the Ramakrishna Mission Hospital in Itanagar, B Baruah Cancer Institute in Guwahati, and Khan Drowa Zangmo District Hospital in Tawang. (CM’s PR Cell)
