A new health insurance scheme for providing free medical and surgical treatment to 1.34 crore families in Tamil Nadu was today launched by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa at an annual outlay of Rs 750 crore.

Under the "Chief Minister's Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme", replacing the previous DMK regime's insurance cover, a family would get a health insurance cover upto Rs one lakh per annum for four years, an official release said.

In the case of certain diseases, the insurance cover could go up to Rs 1.50 lakh. The scheme, to be implemented by public sector United India Insurance Company, would be applicable to every member of a family whose annual family income is less than Rs.72,000.

Jayalalithaa handed over ID cards for the scheme to seven beneficiaries and approval letters for treatment to seven others on the occasion.

After coming to power in May, Jayalalithaa had scrapped the "Chief Minister Kalaingar's Insurance Scheme" named after DMK President M Karunanidhi, as part of reversing DMK regime's pet projects.

Observing that the DMK Government's scheme did not benefit everyone, the release said under the earlier initiative a family was given only Rs one lakh total cover for a block of four years.

Furthermore, the insurance amount of Rs one lakh in the earlier scheme was not sufficient for treatment of life saving and major surgeries and no provision was made for post-operative treatment, forcing the poor to borrow money for their medical treatment, the release said.

Besides covering new borns, the scheme would also provide treatment for 1,016 ailments, 113 continuous treatment and 23 diagnostic procedures, the release said.

Patients would also benefit under the scheme in respect of all investigations even in case no surgery was required ultimately.

At least 250 hospitals across the state would be approved for availing treatment under the scheme, the release said.

Jayalalithaa handed over Rs 183.64 crore towards the first quarter premium amount to the insurance company officials.