Pourakarmikas who registered themselves with the ABHA portal will get a health insurance of Rs 5 lakhs
The contractual Pourakarmikas will now have access to the government health policy. The data from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Public Health Department show out of 15,600 Pourakarmikas who work on contract and are not permanent employees, 11,761 have opened Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts (ABHA). The rest are yet to register themselves.
TWEET– Glimpses of the ongoing Ayushman Bharat – ABHA card registration and distribution
The BBMP Program Officer Dr. Sobha said, “The Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) card is a co-brand card and everyone registered will get a 14 digit Unique Identifier (UID). To generate this card one have to go to the nearest Bangalore One center with their ration card to get registered with the ABHA portal.”
The Chief Health Officer (CHO), Department of Public Health, BBMP said, “There are 19,000 Pourakarmikas in the City, out of which 15,600 workers are on contractual basis and the rest are permanent employees. Most of the Pourakarmikas that work on contract have been registered with ABHA portal and the ones who are permanent have signed up for other health schemes.”
The Program Officer added, “The card comes with an insurance of Rs 1.5 lakhs for Above Poverty Line (APL) card holders and Rs 5 lakhs for Below Poverty Line (BPL) card holders. We have tapped 146 Bangalore One Centers in the city for the generation and distribution of the cards and we have started off by registering the Pourakarmikas.”
Pourakarmikas working near the BBMP Corporation circle.
“The 3833 contract Pourakarmikas who have not registered yet, are facing issues with their ration card, as most of them have their ration cards registered in their home state,” said CHO . He added, “However, they can register with ABHA in their own state using their existing ration card and access the benefit of ABHA across states.”
Manju, who works in Nagarthpete says, “I have been working as a Pourakarmika for 10 years on contract and have not received any free medical aid.I have diabetes and have to spend around Rs. 1500 a month on doctor and medicines from my salary.”
Sheadded , “Our Incharge, Raghu told us about the Ayushman Bharat Card. Twenty of us work in the Nagarthpete steel market and some of us have registered and others are yet to register. I went to the Bangalore One Center to get it done but they said the server was down.”
Another Pourakarmika, Lakshmi Devi who works at Shivaji Nagar said, “I have registered myself with the ABHA portal and have the photocopy of the registration and will get the card in 12-15 days.” She added, “Most of the people who work with me in Shivaji Nagar went to the Bangalore One Centers and registered themselves.”
Raju (name changed) who works at Russell Market said, “15 to 20 of us including me from ward number 91 have registered and will get the card in a few days.”
The CHO said, “In respect to ABHA scheme, the government is planning to create a data base by linking the health provider’s records and also the patient’s records.”
He further added, “People can use their card across the states and the patient’s previous health records will be accessible to hospitals in every state they wish to undergo treatment.”
The Director of Public Health Foundation of India, Bangalore said, “The pourakarmikas work around the solid and liquid wastes which makes them vulnerable to various diseases and the ABHA scheme will help them getting health benefits from the government.”
The program officer also said, “Till now there are 238 government and private hospitals, in Bangalore that are empanelled with the ABHA scheme and people can take the benefits by showing their cards in these hospitals.”
