Free health insurance to literary writers and artists

The Gandaki Academy has decided to provide free health insurance facility to literary writers and artists substantially contributing to the enrichment of art, literature and culture. In this connection, the task of identifying literary writers and activists and collecting their details was being carried out, the Academy shared.

According to Academy Chancellor Surya Khadka ‘Bikharchi’, free health insurance facility would be provided to 200 literary writers and artists this year. “We have come up with free health insurance scheme targeting the life-time literary writers with low income and chronic disease”, he said, adding, “Literary writers and artists from all 11 districts of the Gandaki province would be covered in the scheme”. The Academy has issued a public notice calling for applications from the writers and artists interested to get included in the scheme. Chancellor Khadka said the selection would be done as per the procedural guidelines of the institution.

The literary writer insurance facility has been designed in line with the criteria and standards of the government-announced health insurance programme. The Academy would bear insurance premium of Rs 3000 per person to the Health Insurance Board. With this, the insurance covers annual health expenses of five members of a family up to Rs 100,000.