Clocking 860 enrolments a day on average but mostly govt employees
Imkong Walling
Dimapur | December 18
Enrolment for the Chief Minister’s Health Insurance Scheme (CMHIS), Nagaland, is reported to be making good progress with over 56,000 registrations recorded so far by the State Health Authority (SHA). According to figures disclosed by the Chief Executive Officer, SHA, Thavaseelan K, the total enrolment as on December 18 stood at 56,100.
The insurance scheme, seeking to provide universal health coverage to all indigenous/permanent residents of the state, was launched on October 14.
As per the registration figures, the SHA is clocking around 860 enrolments a day, on average, since the launch. During the one-week period from December 9-16, the CEO informed that 11,193 CMHIS Cards were issued.
Accounting for a fourth of the total enrolled, government employees are taking the lead in the enrolment race.
The segregated figures for CMHIS (EP) and CMHIS (GEN) categories were 43,042 and 13,058, respectively. The former category stands for government employees and pensioners, including former and present legislators; and the latter for the state’s indigenous general population, who are not under the payroll of the state government. Part-time/work-charge workers of the state government drawing salary on fixed pay mode (not on Scale Pay) are eligible in the CMHIS (GEN) category. Those already covered under the Ayushman Bharat Prime Minister’s Jan Arogya Yojna (AB PM-JAY) are ineligible.
“We hope to get saturated at the earliest. I can’t give a definitive timeline because Christmas is approaching (but) we hope to cover everyone very soon,” he said. The enrolment target for the CMHIS, as per the Census 2011, is set at 3,96,002 households. This is exclusive of the 2,33,328 households in the state already covered by the AB PM-JAY.
2-step process
Enrolment can be either ‘Online by Self’ at cmhis.nagaland.gov.in or through the various outreach Registration Centres set up by the government. It sounds simple enough but there appears to be an air of confusion over the enrolment process in the general population.
To clear the air, the CEO explained the process this way. “It is a two-step process. Once you have registered. You’ll have to do an eKYC with your aadhar and then your card gets generated.”
What is eKYC?
Electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) is jargon for electronically self-verifying personal credential, in most cases, involving Aadhar details. After completing the registration/enrolment, “You have to authenticate yourself using your Aadhar, after which you will get an OTP in the mobile number registered in your Aadhar,” he said. In a situation where the current mobile number is not linked to the Aadhar, he added, “You can do biometric verification.”
After the Aadhar verification process, a unique household ID for the head of family will be generated, which will be followed by the generation of the CMHIS Card.
Beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act or ‘Ration Card’ holders can skip the registration process and directly opt for Aadhar based eKYC. The CMHIS card(s) will be issued against the beneficiary details in the Ration Card.
In the event that beneficiaries, who has registered but has yet to complete the eKYC, has to undergo hospital treatment, the option to complete the eKYC at the hospital and generating the CMHIS Card is also there, he added.
Indigenous Cert
There is however a catch to the Indigenous Inhabitant eligibility criterion. As per the guidelines, only Indigenous Inhabitant Certificate (IIC) or Permanent Residential Certificate (PRC) issued post-2016 are admissible. When queried on this, the CEO replied that IICs “issued after 2016 are mandated to have the photo of the person along with the name and signature of the issuing authority. Without these data, we are unable to authenticate the veracity of the Certificates being submitted.” He added that since the insurance scheme is for the indigenous inhabitants of the state, “We need to ensure that those enrolling for it meet this criterion.”
He also said that IICs issued prior to 2016 “that have these data fields (photo, name and signature) may also be accepted by the verifying authorities.”
Closing info gap
The CEO maintained that since the scheme is new, closing perceived information gap requires a continual process of sensitizing officials and employees as well as the public. According to him, the National Health Protection Scheme team is carrying out multiple orientation and sensitisation training sessions in person as well as online for the various stakeholders. He added, “For those who have access to the internet, we also advise them to visit the cmhis.nagaland.gov.in for detailed information on the scheme as well as process of enrolment and availing services etc.”
The government has a dedicated team for handling calls/complaints related to problems faced during the enrolment process. The helpline numbers are: 8880515011, 8880515012, 8880515013, 8880515014, 8880515015 and 14555 (a toll free number). Any grievance can also be mailed to Nagaland.nhpm@gmail.com.
