<p><strong>Haider Ali Khan</strong><br><br>Rashtriya Swasth Bhima Yojana (RSBY) will be restructured to make its coverage wider, intensive, flexible and IT driven. The restructured scheme coordinated by the Union Health Ministry will bring together the disjointed schemes coordinated by different agencies under one umbrella. The new scheme is likely to be operational shortly.<br><br>Giving details of the proposed restructured RSBY at the 9th Health Insurance Summit organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in the capital today, Bhanu Pratap Sharma, secretary, health, ministry of health and family welfare, said, “The new scheme would have more benefits and beneficiaries. MOUs would be entered with the state governments. Those States which want to extend the services to people above poverty line (APL) and provide secondary and tertiary benefits could do so as a top up of the scheme.”<br><br>An important feature of the new scheme is the strong IT platform which would be created for facilitating the operations of the scheme. A large database is being created that would detail facilities at every hospitals, disease profile and other details and would help immensely every stakeholder, he added. <br><br>He also informed that the restructured RSBY would cover around 8 to 10 crore BPL families and there will be enhancement of cash limits for treatment. Improved quality, universal coverage, affordability would be the hall mark of the new scheme, which will also lay stress on preventive medical care. The scheme envisages free medical check-ups once in every three years for the age group vulnerable to cardiac diseases and diabetes.<br><br>The Health Secretary stressed that the private-public partnership (PPP) model would be used for creating strong infrastructure in the health landscape. He assured that legislation should be passed in the near future for augmenting the supply of quality personnel, such as doctors, para-medical staff. There is also a proposal to speed up the process of accredition of hospitals.<br><br>G Srinivasan, CMD, New India Assurance Co, stressed the need for insurance companies coming out with simple products to gain acceptance of the customers as India has become a disease and accident capital of the world.<br><br>Dr Naresh Trehan, chairman, CII National Council on Healthcare, said, “We have a lot of reservoir of knowledge technology and human capital in the private sector. This along with predetermined realistic costs can be used to our advantage to plug the gaps that may exist today in healthcare delivery.”</p>
