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DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand government shut down its Mukhyamantri Swasthya Beema Yojna ( MSBY ), a health insurance scheme that provides cashless health benefits for its holders in case of hospitalisation in public as well as private hospitals, on Thursday.

The CMO office in Dehradun has confirmed the roll back of the scheme to TOI. The scheme covered 12.5 lakh people in the state who were not tax payers, pensioners or government employees. The insurance available in 94 government and 84 private hospitals allowed cashless cover of Rs 1.75 lakh to each family. The government said that it has shut down the scheme since its contract with the firm that extended the insurance cover had ended. The firm was given a two-month extension after its contract expired in September.

Additional secretary of the health department, Pankaj Pandey, said, “A tender will soon be floated for a new firm.” A private hospital in Dehradun confirmed to TOI that it received an email from the insurance firm not to admit any patient under Mukhyamantri Swasthya Beema Yojna as the state had deactivated the scheme with immediate effect. The announcement of shutting down the scheme came as a shock to patients, many of whom reached hospitals in a state of emergency only to find out that they would have to pay for treatment.

Balwant Kumar from Tehri whose wife Kunti has been admitted to Doon medical college hospital in Dehradun said, “My wife was brought to the hospital today but they refused to admit her under MSBY and asked for full payment. This is complete betrayal of public trust. How can they take such sudden calls?”

A doctor from the health department said, “The government hospitals can’t admit patients until the state government assures them that it would pay for the treatment. How will hospitals justify cost of these treatments?” The scheme which was rolled out in 2015 had hit a bump in May this year when over three lakh families who had the health cover were left without an insurance cover as their health cards had been deactivated.

Under the scheme, a biometric smart card was issued to each family. The state human rights commission had also taken cognisance of the matter and later disposed of the case.