There is good news on the health front for Goans. The Universal Medical Insurance Scheme, or Deen Dayal Swastha Seva, has been given cabinet approval. This medical scheme will cover residents of the state for up to Rs 4 lakh. The qualification required is that applicants will have to be residents of the State for a minimum of five years. The scheme, in collaboration with the New India Insurance Company, will begin on Goa Statehood Day, May 30. The government has roped in Goa Electronics Limited to handle registration and removal of card holders, and will also conduct enrollment camps along the length and breadth of Goa. Demographic data will be collected by way of biometrics.
This will be stored centrally. A move like this puts all of Goa’s medical data under one roof and can be easily accessed. It will also help researchers tracks ailments and other health trends, a necessary option in today’s disease and sickness filled world. The scheme will be available for a basic charge of Rs 200-300,
depending on the size of the family and provide cover for a minimum of Rs 2.5 lakhs, extending up to Rs 4 lakhs. Interestingly, if a person exhausts his or her insurance cover in a year, further treatment will be provided for free and the health
coverage extended, but only in government health establishments. What is also interesting is that
the scheme not only covers lifestyle
diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, two deadly issues
that are slowly affecting more and more people as the years
go by, but also takes care of disorders like epilepsy and cerebral
palsy. People covered by the scheme can now also avail of
treatment in district and sub-district hospitals, as well as empanelled
private hospitals. This will surely reduce the heavy
load on GMC, which was one of the only places in Goa that
people travelled to earlier. It will also enable people to travel
shorter distances for medical care, which in Goa is a real boon.
This will solve a lot of issues for many Goans.
Most insurance schemes require the patient to be admitted
for a minimum of 24 hours. But most medical expenses for the
average Goan are incurred via daily expenses on medicine.
Will this scheme allow for that, or will it only kick in if a patient
is admitted? Lifestyle diseases like diabetes and hypertension
require visits to general physicians for regular checkups. Costs
like this can often become stifling. In the case of hypertension,
there is also the matter of psychiatric help. Another lifestyle
problem that is slowly becoming a regular issue is the matter
or strokes and cardiac arrests, due to hypertension and other
stress-related issues..
Dental is another problem that should now be included in
insurance schemes. The world over, dental was first considered
only to be a cosmetic procedure and not medical, which
is why it has been left out of insurance coverage. But with the
increasing junk food and processed food appetites of the modern
dweller, dental problems are exacerbating.
There will be some who will question the fact that the
scheme has been brought in election year, but this was an issue
that needed to be addressed. All in all, the medical scheme
is a boon for Goans and even in its current avatar will help
treat and improve the health of the State’s residents.
