30,000 poor families to get free healthcare cards

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will distribute smart health insurance cards among 30,000 poor families in the first phase under its "Health Protection Programme" to provide modern healthcare services free of cost.

The ministry took the initiative in the light of the Universal Health Coverage of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Health and Family Welfare Minister Mohammad Nasim will formally inaugurate the programme in three upazilas of Tangail, Modhupur, Kalihati and Ghatail, on March 24 at noon in Kalihati upazila.

The Green Delta Insurance Company has already been recruited as the management firm and a contract in this regard has been signed on December 19, 2015.

The health insurance cards will be distributed to provide healthcare services to the tune of a maximum Tk 50,000 to one member of each of the families, said Md Asadul Islam, director general of the Health Economy Unit.

The card-holders can avail medicare services for 50 specified complicated diseases including fever, cold, cough, fractured bones, gall bladder, appendicitis, hernia and complicated heart and kidney ailments, from district and upazila level public hospitals, he added.

"A list has already been prepared for distribution of cards among nearly one lakh families. We will bring all the families who live below poverty level and have no houses, land properties and permanent source of income, under the project in phases," said Asadul.