The Maharashtra government, under its ongoing Jeevandai Arogya Yojna, will soon issue smart cards to the population below the poverty line which can be used to avail free healthcare services at various hospitals listed with the state government.

According to sources, the government has already started the process and the cards are expected to be provided within couple of months in the state. At present, a family with an annual income of Rs 70,000 or below is considered as below poverty line. Government is under discussion to raise the limit to Rs 1.20 lakh, which will help it to provide health services to more people, said Suresh Shetty, minister of state for public health and family welfare. The limitation will be raised depending upon the number of earning member, income and number of dependent in the family.

The government implemented Jeevandai Arogya Yojna in the state from October 11, 1997 to provide financial assistance to the people below poverty line, for providing super speciality services for the treatment of serious diseases of heart, kidney and brain. These patients can avail of medical services for these ailments in recognised government and private hospitals.

“Success of this project will strike its goal when quality healthcare service will be available to every family amongst the weaker section of society. For this, we seek participation and support from private hospitals too,” Shetty explained.

Apart from these initiatives, when a new private hospital is given permission to function, one of the clauses is that 10 per cent of the total beds in the hospital should be allotted to patients from weaker section of society. But the government has noticed that this clause is not followed in most of the hospitals. “We have noticed that most of the hospitals are not providing 10 per cent beds to poor, as per the norms. We are planning to have a task force to monitor private hospitals and stringent action will be taken against the violators,” Shetty informed.