Chandigarh, Aug 18 (IANS): The Punjab government on Sunday announced to bring over 4,500 journalists into the ambit of its universal health insurance scheme, Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana.

All journalists accredited to the state or holding yellow cards will be eligible to be covered under the scheme, an official spokesperson told IANS.

The state will bear the entire premium under the scheme and nearly 400 private hospitals have been empanelled.

Beneficiaries are provided secondary and tertiary care treatment under the scheme, for which all public hospitals above the Community Health Centre level are also empanelled to provide secondary and tertiary care treatment.

The state government had decided a few months ago to extend the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) scheme to provide cashless health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year.

While the cost of the premium for 14.86 lakh families covered under PMJAY is being borne by the Centre and the state in the 60:40 ratio, for the rest of the beneficiaries including the journalists, the state will bear the entire cost of the premium.