The state government decided today to introduce an ex-gratia payment of Rs 50,000 for all those who have died due to Covid-19 in the state on or after April 1.
It also agreed to introduce an add-on package under the Megha Health Insurance Scheme (MHIS) of up to Rs 60,000 for Covid patients who suffer from multiple complications.
Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong informed that the MHIS provides for Rs 4,900 per day for intensive care unit treatment. The Rs 60,000 will be on top of this amount.
“This decision was taken on the basis of immediate relief to beneficiaries,” Tynsong told reporters after the review meeting.
However, he added that fewer than 60 percent of the Meghalaya population has enrolled under MHIS and urged those eligible to join the scheme.
An MHIS official present informed that on-the-spot registration of new subscribers to the scheme takes place every day based on a set database of eligible people drawn from the electoral roll of 2016 and socio-economic caste census.
“There are several families and people who are not in the database. For those people we collect their EPIC and then send this to the central government to get their names added into the system,” the official added.
Meanwhile, on the ex-gratia payment, Tynsong said that the decision to begin this is because the “impact of Covid-19 this year has been severe.”
Since April 1 there have been 374 Covid-related deaths in Meghalaya.
