Staff Reporter
SHILLONG:
The state government said it has rolled out many schemes to support vulnerable citizens – the elderly, disabled citizens and single mothers.
“The annual welfare assistance has been increased from Rs 6,000 to Rs 9,000 from October 2022. Now, 1.77 lakhs beneficiaries are getting the additional benefit through this CM-CARE scheme,” a statement from the government said.
The government is leveraging technology to improve the health facilities of the state, as well as revamping health systems even as access to affordable healthcare services was stressed through increased health insurance coverage.
It was stated that the insurance coverage has been increased to Rs 5.3 lakhs under Meghalaya Health Insurance Scheme (MHIS), from Rs 2.8 lakhs health insurance coverage in 2019.
Recently the drone medicine delivery system to deliver medicines to the remotest locations of the state on time was launched. “The drones would be able to deliver medicines in 30 minutes instead of 3 hours through traditional routes.”
During the pandemic, coverage of MHIS was upgraded to reduce the out-of-pocket expenditure for hospitalised individuals and regulated the rates of Covid-19 treatment by private hospitals.
The mothers in the state are being offered support through the MOTHER programme which has helped over two lakh mothers through care and treatment. Meanwhile, 80 transit homes to take care of the mothers and 150 vehicles to transport them to these transit homes are now operational.
The government statement stated that additionally, Meghalaya’s institutional delivery has now reached an all-time high of 64 per cent in 2021 while it was a staggering low in 2018 (46 per cent).
According to the government, in the past, it has been observed that the ASHA workers suffered from issues of delayed payments, and lack of funds.
“Merely Rs 18 crore was sanctioned and released towards our ASHA workers’ salary. In the last three years, more than Rs 80 crores have been sanctioned and released. Additionally, through technology, their payments are being ensured within weeks whereas earlier it took several months,” according to the statement.
The incentive for Anganwadi workers has also been improved. Previously the Honorarium Structure was as follows, Anganwadi Workers were paid Rs 6000 per month (central Rs 4500 + state Rs 1500), and Anganwadi Helpers received Rs 2750 per month (central Rs 2250 + state Rs 500).
After the state component was doubled, the new honorarium structure is – Anganwadi Workers – Rs 7500 per month (central Rs 4500 + state Rs 3000) and Anganwadi Helpers – Rs 3250 per month (central Rs 2250 + state Rs 1000).
The government statement also informed that an application to ease the ASHA Payments has been developed and launched, adding, “Through the ASHA First portal ASHA workers are now getting timely payments for their services. The payments earlier used to take more than a month but are now getting done in two-three days.”
The government also said that its focus on child health has yielded great results.
“Currently Meghalaya has been able to complete 91 per cent of immunisation for children. Our maternal deaths have reduced by 9 per cent, infant death has reduced by 21 per cent and we now rank third best among all states in child immunisation,” the government stated.