J&K govt to extend RSBY scheme to 10 more districts

Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir government has decided to extend Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), which aims to provide health insurance cover to every BPL family, to ten more districts in the state.

"Government has decided to extend RSBY to 10 more districts, 5 each in Kashmir and Jammu. Maximum poor people would be covered under this scheme," Minister of State for Health, Shabir Ahmad Khan, said while addressing public gathering here today. The Minister said RSBY, a National Health Insurance Programme for the people living Below Poverty Line, was earlier implemented only in two districts, Jammu and Srinagar. "It was decided to extend it to 10 more districts" he said and added that the scheme would later be extended to other districts of the state in a phased manner. The minister said that new districts to come under RSBY includes Uadhampur, Rajouri, Reasi, Samba and Kathua in Jammu region, and Kulgam, Budgam, Islamabad (Anantnag), Pulwama and Ganderbal in Kashmir region. He said that under the scheme, every BPL family has to pay Rs 30 as registration fee to get health insurance cover up to Rs 30,000.