Over 1.57 lakh tsunami-hit families enrolled under UII scheme

Chennai, July 18 (UNI) The Public Sector United India Insurance Company has made a remarkable achievement in the implementation of ''Tsunami Jan Bima Yojana,'' special health insurance cover, launched for the December 2004 tsunami victims in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Talking to reporters here today, United India Insurance Chairman-cum-Managing Director G Srinivasan said more than 1.57 lakh families were enrolled in the scheme in the last one year in Tamil Nadu, ever since it was launched by Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram in March last year.

About 1.28 lakh people were enrolled in Kerala.

He said more than 20,000 families (16,000 in Tamil Nadu and 4,500 in Kerala) had benefitted under the scheme and the insurance firm had paid a sum of Rs 10.5 crore (Rs seven crore in Tamil Nadu and Rs 3.5 crore for Kerala) as medical and accidental expenses to the hospitals listed under the scheme.

Into the second year of operation, the renewal of the health insurance cover had already begun, Mr Srinivasan said.

The premium, which works out to Rs 800 per annum per family for a health cover of Rs 30,000 per family, would be paid by the Centre.

The beneficiaries for enrollment in the scheme were identified by the Tamil Nadu Government.

Elaborating further on the scheme, he said a maximum of 61,023 families were enrolled in the worst affected Nagapattinam district, followed by Kanniyakumari (45,926), Cuddalore (15,815), Tirunelveli (8,729), Tiruvallur (8,284), Kancheepuram (7,224) Chennai (6,424), Villuppuram (2,684) and Tuticorin (1,488).

Mr Srinivasan said the scheme would be launched for the tsunami victims of Puducherry next month before extending it to Andhra Pradesh.

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