Grant-in-Aid (Tuberculosis), Mizoram

What is Grant-in-Aid (Tuberculosis) in Mizoram?

Grant-in-Aid (Tuberculosis) is a state-funded medical relief scheme of the Health & Family Welfare Department, Government of Mizoram. It pays a one-time grant of up to Rs 2,500 per patient to indigent Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste patients in Mizoram who are being treated for tuberculosis and who have no earning member in government service.

The scheme is not a recent announcement. It rests on Notification No. G.11012/7/93-HFW dated 4 June 1997, which brought into force the Mizoram Health & Family Welfare (Grant-in-Aid to indigent Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes patients suffering from fell diseases) Rules, 1997. Those rules remain the operative text published on the department's own website today, and the Rs 2,500 ceiling in Rule 6 has not been revised on that page.

Grant-in-Aid (Tuberculosis) sits alongside a companion service, Grant-in-Aid (Fell Diseases), which covers the other chronic illnesses in the same rules. Both appear in the department's list of schemes together with Janani Suraksha Yojana, the Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram, the family planning indemnity scheme and the Mizoram Universal Health Care Scheme.

What the grant is designed to do is narrow and practical. Tuberculosis treatment in Mizoram is free through the national programme, but a patient in a remote village still has to travel repeatedly to a designated centre, and the fare and incidental costs fall on a household that is often already living below the poverty line. The grant reimburses the actual cost of treatment and the fare by the cheapest route available, up to the Rs 2,500 limit.

Who is eligible for the Mizoram tuberculosis grant?

Rule 3 of the 1997 rules sets four conditions that must all be met.

You can receive the grant if:

• You are a Scheduled Tribe or Scheduled Caste person.
• You are permanently residing within the State of Mizoram.
• No member of your family is a government employee. The 1997 notification extends this to employment under a public sector undertaking or under any local body.
• Your family income from all sources does not exceed Rs 2,000 per month.
• You are suffering from a fell disease, for this service, tuberculosis — duly certified as such by a Medical Examination Board.

You are not eligible if:

• You do not belong to a Scheduled Tribe or Scheduled Caste.
• Any family member holds a post under the government, a public sector undertaking or a local body.
• Your household income from all sources crosses Rs 2,000 a month.
• Your illness has not been certified by the Medical Board, or the Medical Officer in charge of your locality has not forwarded the application.
• You are not a permanent resident of Mizoram.

One point deserves emphasis because it causes most disappointment. Rule 5 states that the grant is made subject to the availability of funds and cannot be claimed as a matter of right. An application that satisfies every criterion can still be held over to a later release if the sanctioned provision for the year has been used up.

What documents are required?

The Health & Family Welfare Department's e-service notification of 1 February 2016 lists the document set for the tuberculosis grant slightly differently from the fell-diseases grant: for tuberculosis, the BDO certificate must carry the monthly income as well as the BPL number, and the Medical Board certificate from one of the three named civil hospitals is added.

How to apply for Grant-in-Aid (Tuberculosis) in Mizoram

1. See the Medical Officer in charge of your locality at the nearest Primary Health Centre, Community Health Centre or district hospital, and tell them you want to claim Grant-in-Aid for tuberculosis. Rule 4 makes the Medical Officer the person who forwards the application, so nothing moves until this step is done.
2. Get the residence and status certificate from your Village Council President, or from the Local Council Chairman if you live in a town. This certificate must confirm both that you permanently reside there and that no member of your family is a government servant.
3. Get the Block Development Officer's certificate showing your village or veng, your BPL number and your family's monthly income from all sources. The Rs 2,000 monthly income limit is checked against this document.
4. Obtain the attending doctor's certificate confirming the tuberculosis diagnosis and the treatment you are receiving.
5. Appear before the Medical Board at Civil Hospital Aizawl, Civil Hospital Lunglei or Civil Hospital Saiha. The Board examines the patient and issues the certificate confirming the fell disease and eligibility for the grant.
6. Submit the complete set through the Medical Officer, who forwards it up the line. The Government is the sanctioning authority and acts on the Medical Board's recommendation.
7. Collect the payment from the Director of Health Services or the District Chief Medical Officer exercising drawing and disbursing powers, in cash or by bank draft. Your name, full address and the amount are entered in the sanction register and you sign a receipt.

The 2016 notification also lists Grant-in-Aid (Tuberculosis) as an electronic service delivered through the state online portal at mizoram.gov.in, with a service window of 30 days and the Director of Health Services as the designated officer. In practice the paperwork is still assembled offline through the Medical Officer, the Village or Local Council and the BDO; the online route covers the submission and tracking of the case.

How much is paid and how is it calculated?

Grant-in-Aid (Tuberculosis) is not a flat payment. Rule 6 limits the amount to the actual cost of treatment plus the fare by the cheapest route available, capped at Rs 2,500 per head. A patient whose verified treatment and travel costs come to Rs 1,800 receives Rs 1,800, not Rs 2,500.

Keeping bus fare receipts, hospital bills and pharmacy receipts is therefore worth the trouble, because the sanctioning process works from documented actual expenditure rather than a declared figure.

Payment is made in cash or by bank draft. Rule 8 requires the Director or the District Chief Medical Officer to maintain a register of sanctions, a receipt in the prescribed proforma carrying the recipient's full name and address, and a register of payments recording voucher number and date along with the bank draft number and date.

Why applications get rejected

• The Medical Officer has not forwarded the application. A form handed in directly by the patient falls outside Rule 4 and is returned.
• No Medical Board certificate. The attending doctor's certificate alone is not enough for the tuberculosis grant; the Board at Aizawl, Lunglei or Saiha must examine the patient.
• Declared income above Rs 2,000 a month on the BDO certificate.
• A family member in government service, which the Village Council President or Local Council Chairman is required to certify on.
• Missing ST or SC status, which the rules make a threshold condition.
• Funds exhausted for the year, in which case the case is not rejected on merits but waits.

Where to get help

• Directorate of Health & Family Welfare, Mizoram New Capital Complex, Khatla, Aizawl 796001, near the NABARD office.
• Director of Health Services, the designated officer for this service: 0389-2336452 (office).
• Healthcare helpline: 1800-345-5729, toll-free, during office hours.
• Departmental email: dir.health-mz@gov.in.
• Grievances can also be lodged through the Public Grievance link on health.mizoram.gov.in or on the central CPGRAMS portal.

There is no application fee for Grant-in-Aid (Tuberculosis), and no agent can arrange a sanction. The route runs entirely through your Medical Officer, Village or Local Council and Block Development Officer.