NT NETWORK
PANAJI
Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana (DDSSY), the medical insurance scheme of the state government, has hit a roadblock even before its implementation with the private hospitals demanding that all the 447 medical/surgical procedures identified in the scheme be extended to them or none.
A delegation of representatives of private hospitals including Apollo Victor Hospital, Manipal Hospital, SMRC and NUSI Wockhardt Hospitals amongst others met the Deputy Chief Minister and Health Minister Francis D’Souza on Thursday and submitted their proposal.
Speaking to this daily, D’Souza said that the issues raised by the private hospitals are relevant. However, since the scheme is the brainchild of the Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, he said that a final word could be given only after speaking to them.
“We have discussed the issue at length. They have said that the interventions extended to them are uncommon and cannot be used frequently. So they claim that it does not make a difference whether we extend it to them or not. So their contention is that, either extend all the 447 procedures or don’t extend any of the procedures,” he stated.
He further pointed out that there is still two-and-a-half months for the scheme to be functional and a solution will be worked out within the timeframe.
Private hospitals want that in the case of people above poverty line, they should be allowed to charge cost of medicines and consumables, blood and blood products as part of patient treatment based on the consent of the patient. However, in case of the people below poverty line, they would be charged as per the existing packages priced in the scheme.
The private hospitals are of the opinion that this will provide an opportunity to those who can afford to pay extra and get treated at a premium private hospital or get treated at a hospital where the patient does not have to pay extra.
Under the scheme, currently only 169 procedures related to life threatening and organ saving procedures out of the 447 procedures have been placed under the domain of the private hospitals, while 279 procedures will be taken care by Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMC) at Bambolim.
Citing the fears expressed by the GMC doctors’ fraternity, D’Souza said that the government-run state level institute is 1200-bedded hospital and there are nearly 750 students studying and therefore all the small procedures should be given to them.
If the government opens up all the procedures to the private hospitals, then there are fears that the GMC will fall short of patients and the teaching and learning process will get affected, he added.