Assesses measures for promotion of Pashmina trade
*Directs for empanelling new hospitals
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Nov 5: Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, today impressed upon the Health & Medical Education (H&ME) Department to make strenuous efforts to clear all the backlog cases of Ayushman Bharat, providing free health coverage to the population, before the end of December.
The meeting, besides Secretary H&ME, was attended by Director SKIMS; Principals of Medical Colleges; CEO State Health Agency (SHA); DG Budget and other concerned officers.
Outstation officers participated in the meeting through video conferencing.
Dulloo took this occasion to emphasise upon the department to work out an action plan to reimburse the authentic cases especially those of private hospitals to enable them to offer seamless services to public.
He enjoined upon the concerned to rationalise the staff deployed for authentication of cases and their subsequent cross-checking so that the cases from both public and private hospitals are processed at a reasonable pace without facing any undue delays.
While stressing on strict monitoring of the claims to check their genuineness, the Chief Secretary asked for looking into the district wise coverage of NFSA families with that of the Gold Cards issued against the persons in those families.
He also advised the department to empanel new hospitals that have forayed into operation here in J&K especially those of national repute. He specified that such steps are going to enhance the quality of services besides encouraging other players to join the fray.
While speaking in the meeting, the Secretary H&ME, Dr Syed Abid Rashid Shah, made out that keeping the severity of the patients into consideration the authorization in favour of Dialysis and Onco-Surgeries are being prioritized by the department.
He also laid out the action plan for speeding-up the approvals of pre-authorizations in a time-bound manner. He reiterated that measures would be taken apace to clear the backlog as the directives issued by the chair.
It was also revealed that during the current policy period starting from 15th of March this year almost 2,65,000 pre-authorizations had been made and 2,51,487 claims submitted for payment.
It was further apprised that in terms of manpower, SHA has increased it to a larger extent and in coming days more medics, accounts personnel are going to be deployed for making the process more seamless and time-bound for the easement of general public.
Meanwhile, Atal Dulloo chaired a meeting of stakeholders to promote the Pashmina trade in J&K.
The meeting, besides Commissioner Secretary Industries & Commerce, was attended by Director Handicrafts & Handloom Kashmir; other concerned officers and private players belonging into this trade.
At the outset of the meeting, the Chief Secretary enquired about different measures taken by the department to promote this significant sector of handicrafts. He observed that this craft has a very high potential and if tapped optimally can bring employment and substantial revenue to both the craftsmen and those associated with the trade.
Dulloo also underscored the need for taking steps to restrict the marketing of counterfeit items on the name of Pashmina. He stressed on marking genuine Pashmina products with GI tags so that there is no difficultly in identification of the same. He asked for employing modern technology for achieving the desired results along with augmenting the testing capacity of labs for slashing the waiting time considerably.
In his presentation the Director, Handicrafts & Handloom, Kashmir, Mehmood Shah enumerated different achievements of the department registered during the past weeks in reviving Pashmina sector and giving it a big push to grow here.
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