Committee urges Governor to release funds

IMPHAL, Oct 1: The MSIAF (Manipur State Illness Assistance Fund) Demand Committee has urged Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla to direct the authorities concerned to release the necessary funds for the reimbursement of 1,929 pending applicants under MSIAF.
Giving an in-depth look into the matter, a letter signed by MSIAF Demand Committee convenor Arambam Rabindra Singh said that MSIAF was established on February 21, 2011 under the Medical Directorate of the Government of Manipur to provide medical reimbursement of upto Rs 1.5 lakh to families living below poverty line (BPL).
As per the letter, there are 1,929 pending applications which were received by the Medical Directorate from November 16, 2016 to December 31, 2017. Of these, 231 applicants have already been approved though they have not received reimbursement due to the lack of funds.
According to the Committee, the Medical Director repeatedly requested the Principal Secretary of Health and Family Welfare to release the necessary funds but these requests were not acted upon.
On October 11, 2017 the-then State Cabinet decided to subsume MSIAF to Chief Minister gi Hakshelgi Tengbang (CMHT) which was subsequently launched on Jan 21, 2018.
However, the Medical Directorate continued to receive MSIAF applications until December 31, 2017.
Though appeals were made to address this problem, including a memorandum submitted to the-then Health Minister Dr Sapam Ranjan Singh (July 20, 2020) and MLA Okram Surjakumar Singh drawing attention to the issue during the 3rd session of the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly (2022), no funds have been released till date, said the letter.
Highlighting their plight, the Committee said that among the pending applicants there are numerous people suffering from major illnesses such as cancer, heart, kidney and liver diseases. Many have been left unable to purchase essential medicine or continue their treatment due to the financial hardship caused by this delay.
Under such circumstances, MSIAF Demand Committee has asserted that it is the moral and legal obligation of the Medical Directorate to clear the pending MSIAF reimbursements as the Directorate received MSIAF applications till December 31, 2017 while CMHT was launched on January 21, 2018 and there was no other Government health scheme to assist BPL families during this transitional period.