Pune: Rules For Implementation Of Urban Poor Scheme Will Be Strict

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Pune, 13th August 2022: Smart cards will be given to the beneficiaries of the scheme to streamline the Urban Poor Medical Assistance Scheme implemented by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). Municipal Commissioner Vikram Kumar informed in a press conference that due to this, misuse, extra payments and double usage of this scheme can be curbed.

 

About sixteen thousand families are taking benefit from this scheme implemented by the municipal corporation, and the municipality spends more than Rs 50 crores on this scheme every year for reimbursement of medical bills. The cardholder of this scheme has an annual income limit of Rs one lakh and the benefit of this scheme is a free medical treatment in municipal clinics and a 50 per cent discount in private hospitals.

 

While taking advantage of this scheme, some malpractices have entered into it and misuse of this card has increased. Also, some have taken two or three cards from the same family. Also, various private hospitals are demanding different doses for the same disease and more from the municipal corporation. To curb all these issues, the Municipal Corporation has prepared software for this scheme by spending Rs 14 lakh 50 thousand.

 

This card will be registered online and distributed at the regional office level henceforth, Aadhaar numbers of cardholders and their family members will be attached to it. Due to this, no one can remove the card twice.

 

Additional Commissioner Ravindra Binwade informed that the smart card will not affect the basic urban poor medical assistance scheme. However, due to this, the data of different bills coming from private hospitals, how often a patient takes treatment for which disease in the hospital and how much it costs will be available to the health department. Binwade said that this online system and distribution of smart cards will be started in the next fifteen days.

Similar to the Urban Poor Scheme, the medical assistance scheme for municipal employees and former corporators will be implemented through a private insurance company. With this implementation, employees will get cashless medical services in all hospitals.