In a first, Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope, announced that all citizens in the state will be covered under the state government’s health scheme. With this, Maharashtra will become the first state to provide free and cashless insurance cover to its people.

85 percent of the state’s population was already covered under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MJPJAY) and the cover will be extended to the remaining 15 percent, the minister said.

A memorandum was signed to include government, semi-government employees and white ration card holders in the scheme to prevent private hospitals from overcharging patients, Tope said on Friday, May 1.

‘The government has signed a MoU with the General Insurance Public Sector Association (GIPSA) for treatment of COVID-19 patients at private hospitals in Pune and Mumbai,’ he added.

The minister also said that separate packages will be designed for all diseases, in a bid to standardize treatment fees at all hospitals. Earlier, 496 hospitals were covered under the scheme, however, over 1,000 hospitals will now come under it.

As per the Disaster Management Act and Epidemic Act, the state government has fixed the fees of COVID-19 treatment at private hospitals, Tope said, adding, hospitals that don’t have tie-ups with the GIPSA will also have to standardize their treatment fees.

As of May 3, Maharashtra has recorded as many as 11,506 COVID-19 cases with as many as 485 deaths.

The death toll in the state crossed 500 on Saturday, reporting a total of 36 deaths in 24 hours, highest so far in one day in the state.

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