Altogether 14.47 lakh below poverty line (BPL) families in Maharashtra have been given biometric smart cards under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), which has been rolled out in 28 districts, a senior official said.

The State Government has rolled out the scheme in 28 districts and enrolled 14.47 lakh BPL families to whom the biometric smart cards have been given, Principal Secretary, Labour, Kavita Gupta told PTI here today.

RSBY provides for health insurance cover of up to Rs. 30,000 in-hospitalization procedures to BPL families.

The scheme is being funded with 25 per cent share of the State Government and 75 per cent by the Central Government.

The individual makes a contribution of Rs.30 and this individual contribution has been included in the design of the scheme in order to give ownership of the scheme to the BPL participants, Gupta said.

"Five members of the family, including the spouse, are covered under the scheme. They can avail the benefit of 740 in-hospitalization procedures under the RSBY," Gupta, who has received an award by the Union Ministry of Labour for "outstanding contribution in individual capacity" for implementing the RSBY scheme, said.

The scheme has taken a special view of women as it is compulsory for the family to include the spouse, which ensures the wife is not neglected.

Maternity benefits are covered under the scheme, she said.

Even if persons given biometric cards migrate to other states where RSBY is being implemented, they can avail benefit of the scheme from empanelled hospitals in those states, she said.

"Being a cashless insurance scheme, the smart card given to the enrolled BPL families acts like a debit card worth Rs.30,000 on which the enrolled BPL families and their members can take benefit of 740 in-hospitalisation procedures in the empanelled hospitals, across the country," she said.

Five insurance companies are implementing this scheme in Maharashtra and have empanelled around 700 private hospitals.

This means that BPL persons are no longer restricted only to the Government hospitals for free treatment but can also approach these private hospitals and be treated free of cost.

The state Labour Department is the nodal agency for implementation of the scheme in Maharashtra, Gupta said.