Chandigarh, June 6: A state-backed health insurance system has successfully registered 23.01 lakh families across Punjab, distributing millions of coverage cards to secure free hospital treatments.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann announced the milestone on Friday during a high-level briefing attended by Health Minister Dr. Balbir Singh and senior medical administrators. The review showed that the Mukh Mantri Sehat Yojna has settled medical bills totaling ₹654 crore for hundreds of thousands of citizens who utilized cashless hospital admissions.
“This initiative has proved to be a huge blessing for people who otherwise had to spend large amounts from their own pockets on medical treatment,” Mann asserted. “The scheme is ensuring that no family is deprived of quality healthcare due to financial constraints.”
The administration intends to scale the program to cover all 65 lakh families residing in the state, offering a ₹10 lakh annual treatment ceiling per household. The existing registration data highlights deep penetration in rural sectors, which represent more than two-thirds of all active health cards distributed so far.
Government tech teams are presently building simplified electronic registration systems to address previous card-download difficulties reported by rural applicants. Officials maintained that the expansion of the hospital network—which now features 612 private and 223 government hospitals—remains on track to handle the growing volume of cashless admissions statewide.
