Kerala decided to implement health care project Sampoorna Arogya Keralam

Kerala Government on 6 January 2016 decided to implement a health care project, Sampoorna Arogya Keralam (SAK) announced in the 2015-16 State budget. The project will benefit about 42 lakh people of the state.

The decision was taken at a state Cabinet meeting at Thiruvananthapuram.

The project will bring together different schemes in health sector under one umbrella and ensure that beneficiaries get financial aid up to 2 lakh rupees. It would cover families in the income group of less than 3 lakh rupees per annum.

Highlights of the SAK Program
• People will be provided with Smart Health Cards under which they can go to enlisted public or private hospitals and get the services.
• Sampoorna Arogya Keralam Trust headed by the Chief Minister would be set up to implement the initiative.
• A corpus fund of 20 crore rupees would be set up and a separate head of account formed.
• Various financial assistance schemes under sundry departments will be consolidated under the project The Smart Health cards will be issued after beneficiary families will produce their income certificate from the revenue department.

At present, the medical assistance in Kerala is available through Rashtriya Swayam Bima Yojana (RSBY), Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (Chis), Chis-Plus, Rogyakiranam, Karunya Benevolent Fund, Thalolam and Cancer protection scheme among others.

Besides, the government also decided to set up a technical committee on treatment protocols and the various procedures required to be adopted in accordance with the guidelines of the project. The final decision on costs will be based on the recommendations of the committee. The costs will be decided after comparing them with prevailing rates under various peer projects as also commercial rates.

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