Tamil Nadu’s expanded health insurance scheme will soon be implemented, increasing coverage from ₹5 lakh to ₹25 lakh without additional paperwork for current beneficiaries, and plans to expand IVF centres and strengthen disease control measures.
Tamil Nadu’s expanded health insurance cover under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme will be put into effect soon, Health Minister K.G. Arunraj said on Wednesday, easing concerns among beneficiaries that they might need fresh cards or paperwork to access the higher limit.
Arunraj said existing beneficiaries can continue using their current cards, with no new insurance card required. He said the rise in annual cover from ₹5 lakh to ₹25 lakh would not automatically mean a five-fold jump in premiums, because only a smaller share of families are likely to need advanced treatment and file claims. The government will provide the necessary funding, according to the minister’s remarks in Chennai.
The increase follows Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s announcement last week that the state would raise CMCHIS coverage from ₹5 lakh to ₹25 lakh. The move, unveiled under Rule 110 in the Assembly, was presented as a way to give families stronger protection against large hospital bills and widen access to cashless care at empanelled hospitals.
Arunraj also said the government plans to expand in-vitro fertilisation centres to more district hospitals, with the work already moving ahead after being announced in the budget. He added that shortages of chemotherapy medicines would be reviewed, while public fears over H1N1 influenza and dengue should remain limited because hospitals have taken precautionary measures.
With the monsoon season under way, the minister urged households to stop water from stagnating near homes, warning that Aedes mosquitoes spread dengue during the day. He said fever camps would be held for schoolchildren and advised people with fever, headache, vomiting or severe body pain to seek medical care quickly at the nearest government hospital or primary health centre. Separately, he said two renovated lecture halls at Madras Medical College had been reopened, one with Rotary Club support and the other with state funding, to offer a more modern, technology-enabled learning environment.
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