Grant-in-Aid for Fell Diseases, Mizoram

What is the Grant-in-Aid for Fell Diseases in Mizoram?

Grant-in-Aid for Fell Diseases is a financial assistance scheme of the Health & Family Welfare Department, Government of Mizoram, for residents of the state living with one of thirteen notified serious illnesses. "Fell disease" is the term used in the government's own English notification and on the Department's schemes page, where the entry reads Grant-in-aid (Fell Diseases). The older English word "fell" here carrying its sense of grave or deadly.

The scheme has a specific legal origin. Notification No. J.11011/34/2015-HFW, issued at Aizawl on 1 February 2016 by the Commissioner & Secretary to the Government of Mizoram, Health & Family Welfare Department, brought the grant-in-aid within the electronic service delivery framework under Rule 4(1) of the Mizoram Information & Technology (Electronic Service Delivery) Rules, 2015. That notification is what fixes the documents, the timeline and the sanctioning officer.

An honest caveat belongs at the top of this page. The Government of Mizoram notification and the downloadable application form together set out who may apply, what to attach, who decides and how long it takes, but they do not publish a rupee amount. Nothing on the Health & Family Welfare Department's own pages fixes a ceiling or a slab for this grant. Anyone quoting a specific figure for this scheme is not taking it from the notification.

Which diseases qualify as fell diseases?

The notification names thirteen conditions:

1. Cancer
2. Leprosy
3. Chronic heart disease
4. Monoplegia
5. Hemiplegia
6. Paraplegia
7. Quadriplegia
8. Mental illness
9. Blindness
10. Renal failure
11. Endometriosis
12. Chronic osteomyelitis
13. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)

Tuberculosis is not on this list. The same 2016 notification creates a separate Grant-in-Aid (Tuberculosis) service, with its own designated officer. The Director, Health Services, and an extra document requirement of a Medical Board certificate from Civil Hospital at Aizawl, Lunglei or Saiha. TB applicants should follow that stream rather than this one.

Who is eligible for the grant and who is not?

You can apply if:

• You are a resident of Mizoram, certified as such by the Chairman of your Local Council or Village Council.
• You are diagnosed with one of the thirteen notified fell diseases, certified by the doctor treating you.
• Your village or locality details, the name of your disease and your BPL number can be certified by the Block Development Officer.

You are not eligible if:

• You are a government servant. Both the Local or Village Council recommendation and the BDO certificate are specifically required to record whether a government servant is present in the household, which is how the Department applies this filter.
• You are not a resident of Mizoram, since residency certification by the Local or Village Council Chairman is the first document required.
• Your condition is not one of the thirteen notified diseases. Tuberculosis patients cannot apply here and must use the separate TB grant-in-aid.

What documents are required?

The application form is a single sheet, written in a mix of English and Mizo, addressed to The Director, Hospital & Medical Education, Mizoram, Aizawl under the subject line "Grant-in-aid dilna". It asks for the patient's name (damlo hming), the father's or mother's name, permanent address (damlo chenna hmun nghet), present address, the name of the disease (natna hming), the name of the hospital or place of treatment, and the applicant's own name, full address and mobile number.

How to apply for the Grant-in-Aid for Fell Diseases

1. Get the Medical Officer certificate first. The certificate has to come from the doctor actually treating you, so obtain it at the hospital or health centre where you are being seen. Everything else follows from the diagnosis.
2. Approach your Local Council or Village Council Chairman for the recommendation. Make sure it covers both the points the notification asks for, that you reside there, and the government servant position of the household.
3. Get the BDO certificate from your Block Development Officer, carrying the village or locality name, the disease name, government servant status and your BPL number.
4. Download and fill the application form from the Grant-in-aid (Fell Diseases) page on health.mizoram.gov.in, or apply through the state online portal at mizoram.gov.in, which the 2016 notification designates as the mode of service.
5. Submit the complete file to the Director, Hospital & Medical Education, Mizoram, Aizawl, with all three certificates attached. Keep a copy of everything you submit.
6. Follow up after 30 days. The notification commits to delivering the service within 30 days, subject to availability of fund.

Why applications get delayed or rejected

• Availability of fund. This is written into the notification itself. A complete, eligible file can still wait for the next fund release, which is the single most common reason for delay rather than rejection.
• Incomplete Council recommendation. A letter that certifies residency but says nothing about the government servant question is not what the notification asks for, and will come back.
• Missing BPL number on the BDO certificate.
• Certificate from the wrong doctor. The Medical Officer certificate must be from the attending doctor, not from any doctor willing to sign.
• Wrong stream. A tuberculosis file sent to the Director, Hospital & Medical Education instead of the Director, Health Services will have to be redirected, and it also needs the Medical Board certificate the fell diseases stream does not.

How the fell diseases grant sits alongside other help

Grant-in-Aid for Fell Diseases is one of eight schemes the Health & Family Welfare Department, Government of Mizoram lists on its schemes page. The others are Janani Suraksha Yojana, the National Maternity Benefit Scheme, Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram, Grant-in-Aid (TB), the Family Planning Indemnity Scheme, the Dr. Ambedkar Medical Aid Scheme and the National Viral Hepatitis Scheme. Several of them can run in parallel with this grant, because each answers a different part of the cost of being ill.

A patient with kidney failure in Mizoram, for example, would normally use the Mizoram Universal Healthcare Scheme for the dialysis itself, since dialysis is one of the 29 day care and OPD benefits listed under MUHCS. A Scheduled Tribe patient facing a transplant would separately apply to the Dr. Ambedkar Medical Aid Scheme, which pays up to Rs 3.50 lakh straight to the hospital for kidney surgery or organ transplant. The fell diseases grant-in-aid then sits behind both as a cash grant to the household, covering the many costs that no hospital-payment scheme reaches — travel to Aizawl, an attendant's stay, income lost while a family member is in hospital.

That is the practical reason the scheme survived the arrival of universal coverage in April 2025 rather than being folded into it. Applying for one does not bar you from the others, and the fell diseases application form does not ask whether you have claimed elsewhere.

Where to get help

• Health & Family Welfare Department, Government of Mizoram, office of the Commissioner & Secretary to 0389-2336641, as listed in the Department's 2026 telephone directory.
• Directorate of Health Services, Mineco, Khatla, Aizawl to 0389-2336452, for the parallel tuberculosis grant-in-aid.
• Healthcare helpline to 1800-345-5729 toll free, notified in the same 1 February 2016 notification and answered by the CEO, Healthcare during office hours.
• National Ambulance Service to 102, toll free, 24 hours.

The same 2016 notification also lists the AIDS helpline on 1097 and the two-wheeler ambulance service for Aizawl city on 102, both toll free.

Because this scheme publishes no benefit amount, a patient planning treatment should not budget around it. Treat it as supplementary help alongside the Mizoram Universal Healthcare Scheme, which is the state's main route to cashless hospital treatment and which covers several of these same conditions; cancer chemotherapy, dialysis for renal failure and chronic heart failure all appear on the MUHCS day care and OPD benefits list.