Atiq Khan Nearly 99 lakh families living below the poverty line (BPL) in Uttar Pradesh can look forward to getting quality medical care under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) in hospitals of their choice, including private nursing homes, from this coming July 1. A memorandum of understanding to this effect was signed between the Union Government and the UP Government on Friday. The signatories to the MoU were the Director-General, Union Labour and Employment Ministry, Anil Swaroop, and Principal Secretary in the State Rural Development Department, J. N. Chamber. The scheme, to be monitored by the Rural Development Department, will be launched in the State from July 1 in a phased manner and would initially cover 15 districts of Baghpat, Saharanpur, Bijnor, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Sant Ravidas Nagar, Kanpur Nagar, Fatehpur, Hamirpur, Sonebhadra, Gorakhpur, Banda, Gonda and Chitrakoot. It will run up to 2013 and would be extended to the remaining 56 districts of the State in phases. The objective of the scheme is to improve the access of the BPL families to quality medical care for treatment of diseases involving hospitalization and surgery through an identified network of health care providers. In UP, the Yojana would be implemented in public-private partnership mode with the Government acting as a facilitator. The insurance company, ICICI Lombard, has been given the responsibility to carry out the scheme. Smart cards With the total sum insured at Rs.30,000 per family (consisting of five members) per year, the beneficiaries would be issued smart cards for cashless transactions. A unique feature of the scheme is that it is the biggest exercise involving information technology applications for BPL families. The BPL families to be covered under the health insurance scheme represent the unorganized sector of the economy. Mr. Swaroop said that along with a stamp size photo of the beneficiary, the smart card's chip will contain the photos and thumb impression of all five members of a BPL family as well as a credit of Rs.30,000. Only authorised persons, who will be given separate smart cards, can deduct the amount spent on treating the beneficiary. The smart card would be delivered to the BPL families by the insurance company.