Bhubaneswar: A personalised letter from chief minister Naveen Patnaik addressed individually to all the 70 lakh beneficiaries of Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana, a major social welfare scheme of the BJD government, will mark the launching of the new health scheme on August 15.

The district administrations have been entrusted with the task of distributing the letters within a period of seven days from August 15. The letter will mention the salient features of the scheme and also the fact that the recipients have been selected as a beneficiary of the scheme under which health care worth up to Rs 5 lakh will be provided by the government to each poor family of the state every year.

To ensure that the letters are delivered properly, the government will pay Re 1 per letter to the official who hands over the document to the beneficiary. In this exercise, the government is involving all its grassroots-level officials, anganwadi and health workers. Health secretary Pramod Kumar Meherda has asked all the district collectors to ensure that the letters are distributed within a week of the launch of the state-funded scheme.

The scheme had hit the headlines as it will be running in parallel with the Union government's Ayushman Bharat Yojana. More than 44.08 lakh beneficiaries of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana and 25.61 lakh beneficiaries were being given health insurance under the Biju Krushak Kalyan Yojana. Both the schemes have been merged and now 69.69 lakh beneficiaries will be brought under the new Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana.

Committees will be formed right from district to block level to monitor distribution of letters among the beneficiaries of the new scheme. District collectors will head the district-level committees which will have an executive officer or commissioner of the local urban body, chief district medical officer, district agriculture officer, district social welfare officer and project director of the district rural development agency as members.