Dhanushadham. The number of people receiving health insurance in Madhes province has crossed 750,000.

Ramendra Prasad Kushwaha, madhes province coordinator of the Health Insurance Board, said that 779,265 people from all the eight districts of the state have joined the health insurance scheme till July 15 under the programme launched by the government to ensure easy and accessible access to government health services to the citizens. At the same time, the number of insured people in the state has reached about 13 percent.

According to the national census 2078, the total population of Madhes province is 6,114,600. He said efforts were being made to make the programme more effective by coordinating with the local level and state governments.

With the financial assistance of the state government, the families of the martyrs of Madhes have been provided free insurance. According to him, rs 4 million allocated by the state government in the last fiscal year has included some families of the martyrs in the insurance scheme. He said that it was difficult to include the families of martyrs in the insurance completely as they could not identify all the martyrfamilies, could not confirm their whereabouts and some families had migrated.

According to him, efforts are being made to bring the basic hospitals brought into operation by the government under the insurance service. In addition, an additional Rs 100,000 insurance limit has been increased for patients suffering from complex diseases like cancer, heart disease, dialysis, head injury and spinal injury.

There is also a concession in payment fees for regular renewals. The health insurance programme in Madhes province was started in 2073 BS and extended to all the eight districts from 2075 BS.

To make the insurance program more effective, a campaign has been launched to involve the citizens in the insurance by sending the registered helpers in each ward at their doorsteps, said Kushwaha.