Patna: There is confusion after the initial euphoria over the "Modicare" that the Union budget proposed on Thursday.

"We are yet to go through details of what the finance minister proposed in Parliament," said principal secretary, health, Sanjay Kumar. The state does not know how much money it will have to share for the scheme which seeks to give cover to about 50 crore Indians for Rs 5 lakh per year and how it will be implemented.

Health minister Mangal Pandey, who hailed the Union government on this account, admitted that he did not know how it would be implemented. "Right now, I do not know how it is going to be implemented. It is still being worked out in Delhi. Right now I know that around 40 per cent of the population will be covered in Bihar also," he said on Friday.

The previous health coverage for the Below Poverty Line (BPL) population was Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) which was under the labour department and which entitled a coverage of Rs 30,000 per patient per year.

It brought embarrassment to the state government in 2012 when it was found that the uteruses of over 700 women were removed without their knowledge in dubious clinics and private hospitals and the Bihar government was asked to pay compensation by the State Human Rights Commission. But the new health cover will be under the health department.

"It is good but I do not see how it is going to be implemented?" said former president of Indian Medical Association and former health department official Dr Ajay Kumar. He said the amount in RSBY was small and big corporate players in the health sector did not register themselves. "But now the government is talking about a Rs 5 lakh cover and I think big players will come in," he said.

Doctors said they did not know which insurance company would be given the assignment for the health cover. "In states like Punjab, insurance companies are complaining about non-payment of premium. The money for such a mega project is small. But in the end it will benefit the private players. The government should have concentrated on strengthening its own hospitals," said Dr Kumar.

"When Nitish Kumar was in the Grand Alliance, he criticised insurance companies for the meagre amount paid to farmers for crop damage claims against the high premium the state government had to pay. The same situation may arise here," said an official.

The state still does not know if it will benefit from other schemes like a medical college for every three parliamentary seats.