Proposed Schoolchildren’s Medical Insurance for Cabinet approval soon: AVK
View(s):Schoolchildren’s Medical Insurance scheme proposal will be submitted to Cabinet shortly, and will commence in September, said Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam. He said 4.5 million students will benefit from this scheme which will not only cover those in govt schools, but also those in private schools, international schools and pirivenas and institutes that provide Primary and Secondary Education.
The Minister said that, in other countries, such schemes are only for underprivileged children, while the more affluent have to pay, but in Sri Lanka, this coverage will be for all schoolchildren. The full cover will be Rs 200,000 for a year.
In govt hospitals, the insurance will cover a month’s stay in hospital at Rs1,000 per day, while this would be higher in a private hospital, with maximum coverage of Rs 100,000 for hospitalization for a year. They are entitled to use the full amount for the year, in different installments, if they so need it.
The scheme will also cover medieine costs for up to Rs 10,000 per year. “In case of an emergency or disability, the insuree will be paid Rs 100,000 outright as compensation, while in case of a major surgery, on a case by case basis, the amount to be paid will be increased,” he added.
In case of death of a parent, a student would be paid up to Rs 200,000, to complete his/her education, while in the case of the death of a student, Rs 100,000 would be paid to the immediate family. Another advantage in the scheme is to make private hospital charges available on a concessionary rate to the insurees. This would include concessionary channeling rates, surgical rates and room rates at such hospitals. This measure is to ensure that students can use the insurance money for a longer period of time.
Funds for the scheme will come from the Treasury. Education Director Renuka Peiris in charge of the scheme, said the main reason for the introduction of this scheme is to ensure better healthcare for students and ensure they don’t drop out of school for medical reasons.
She added that, such a scheme would help children with various medical conditions to maintain good health and attend school.
She further said this would be particularly useful in rural areas where there was a lack of proper medial facilities, and parents are too poor to consult a doctor in a private hospital. “This would lessen the burden on the parents with regards to the medical needs of their children,” she explained. - Damith Wickremasekera