Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma. Subramanian on Tuesday said the State government had constituted a committee headed by T. Sundararaman, former executive director, National Health System Resource Centre, New Delhi, to streamline the implementation of the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (CMCHIS).
Explaining the purpose of setting up the committee, the Minister said, “The benefits of CMCHIS should reach more people. It should be hassle-free for beneficiaries and their grievances should be resolved. The scheme’s implementation should be improved further in government hospitals. The responsibility of private hospitals should be increased and they should take a service-oriented approach towards implementing CMCHIS. The committee will provide such advisories.”
Prof. Sundararaman is chairperson of Technical Appraisal Committee, Health Technology Assessment Board and Adjunct Faculty, JIPMER School of Public Health. Health Secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi, Member of State Planning Commission J. Amalorpavanathan, the ex-officio Project Director of Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project and two representatives of private hospitals – Mohammed Rela of Rela Hospital and Aravindan Selvaraj of Kauvery Hospital – will be members of the committee.
The Hindu, in an article published on August 20 – Is Tamil Nadu’s visionary health insurance scheme on track? – reported that CMCHIS was facing a number of issues with its implementation, with government doctors having been flagging serious concerns for a long time. (The report can be accessed at https://shorturl.at/hnzIN).
The committee would provide recommendations on the steps to be taken to ensure that patients avail themselves of treatment through CMCHIS without any difficulties, as per their entitlement under the scheme; improve the performance of public institutions in providing quality care under the scheme; and streamline the process of reimbursement of the cost of treatment to both public and private hospitals.
Launched in July 2009, CMCHIS covers 1.40 crore beneficiary families. Listing the reasons for constituting the committee, the department said there had been demands for the scheme to be improved further. There was a need for government hospitals to contribute further in implementing the scheme. It needed to be made more accessible and hassle-free for the poor to get treatment from both government and private hospitals. The reimbursement process for hospitals also needed to be expedited, it said.
The State government entered into an agreement with the United India Insurance Company for a total premium of ₹7,730 crore for a period of five years from 2022. The government paid an annual premium of ₹1,546 crore, Mr. Subramanian said. The Minister said the poor should be made aware of the scheme, for which more publicity measures would be taken. He said there were a few deficiencies. He added that the committee would hold a meeting, after which it would put forward a mechanism to receive complaints/feedback from the public to redress their grievances and take measures for improvement.
Pact signed
The Minister earlier said the Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University and the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to provide guidelines and extend financial assistance for researchers. He added that a building would be constructed for research on the university campus at a cost of ₹50 crore, and it would be named after former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi. He released a compilation of 40 research papers on the occasion.
Health Secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi, University Vice-Chancellor K. Narayanasamy and Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine T.S. Selvavinayagam were present.
