Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Monday inaugurated the vaccination drive to administer ‘precautionary doses’ to health workers, frontline workers and those above 60 years of age with co-morbidities across the State. During the event in Chennai, the insurance cover to be provided under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (CMCHIS) was extended for five more years.
For the vaccination drive, over 4 lakh individuals, health workers, frontline workers and those above the age of 60 with co-morbidities have been identified as eligible to be administered with the precautionary dose. The eligible 4 lakh, include 2,06,128 health workers, 92,816 frontline workers and 1,01,069 senior citizens.
CMCHIS extended
Mr. Stalin also handed over the orders to United India Insurance Company (UIIC) Ltd. extend the CMCHIS for five more years from January 11, 2022. A Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between the State government and UIIC. Funds to the tune of ₹1,248.29 crore has been sanctioned towards the extension of the insurance scheme.
Under this scheme, beneficiaries can undertake medical treatment with insurance cover for 1,090 medical and surgical treatment procedures in a total of 1,600 hospitals, including 714 government and 886 private hospitals, an official release said.
The scheme provides insurance cover up to ₹5 lakh per family a year to over 1.37 crore families across the State. It may be recalled that the State government had last month revised the annual income slab for eligibility under the scheme from ₹72,000 to ₹1,20,000.
Mr. Stalin also handed over insurance card for accredited journalists under the CMCHIS. The State government had, last month, revised eligibility conditions for extending the insurance cover under the CMCHIS to over 1,400 accredited journalists across the State.
Minister for MSME T.M. Anbarasan, Health Minister Ma. Subramanian, Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments P.K. Sekarbabu, Chennai South MP Thamizhachi Thangapandian, Mylapore MLA Dha. Velu, Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan, Commissioner of Greater Chennai Corporation Gagandeep Singh Bedi and senior officials were present.