Telangana govt to distribute new Aarogyasri digital cards soon

In a review meeting on Aarogyasri, Health Minister, T Harish Rao said in place of the existing biometric system, a facial recognition system to identify beneficiaries will be launched

Hyderabad: The State government on Tuesday has announced that an initiative to prepare and distribute new Aarogyasri digital cards to beneficiaries will be launched in the coming weeks.

The decision to issue verified digital cards was taken following Chief Minister, K Chandrashekhar Rao’s direction to enhance health insurance coverage from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh to each beneficiary covered under the Aarogyasri insurance scheme.

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As part of these efforts, the e-KYC initiative, to verify the identity of beneficiaries and confirm their residential address digitally through Aadhaar verification, will be launched in the coming days.

In a review meeting on Aarogyasri, Health Minister, T Harish Rao said in place of the existing biometric system, a facial recognition system to identify beneficiaries will be launched and the needed software will be developed in the coming weeks.

“The massive initiative to prepare and distribute Aarogyasri digital cards will be done through the local public representatives. We have also appointed a group of senior doctors from NIMS to conduct medical audit of Aarogyasri healthcare services,” the Minister said.

The meeting also decided to launch free Cochlear Implants (CI) surgery and subsequent rehabilitation of children with hearing impairment at MGM Warangal, which is attached to State-run Kakatiya Medical College. At present, the Koti ENT Hospital is the only State-run hospital that is offering free CI implants and rehabilitation therapy including auditory and speech training to such children.

It has also been decided to have software that will enable NIMS doctors to remotely monitor patients who are availing dialysis facilities in 105 government-run free facilities.

The Minister also decided to provide a special funding of Rs. 1.30 crore for doctors at ENT Koti hospital for doctors who conducted nearly 866 black fungus surgeries during Covid pandemic.