PANAJI
The much-talked about Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana (DDSSY) which was launched on September 1 with much grandeur of being the only one of its kind in India has hit a roadblock barely days after it took off.
Till now only one of the private empanelled hospitals have begun accepting beneficiaries, apart from the four government hospitals.
At launch, the scheme had empanelled 19 private hospitals and four government hospitals including Goa Medical College (GMC) and Hospicio Hospital, Margao. On the day of the launch, consent letters were given to the empanelled hospitals. However, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the hospital and the insurance company, United India Insurance Ltd. was signed by only one hospital, Manipal Hospital.
Possible reasons for the remaining 18 not signing the MoU revolve around disagreement of the contents of the scheme. Most private hospitals objected to procedure costs that were based on central government rates. Additionally, many had also objected to the insurance covering consultation costs. According to them, DDSSY should only cover the operation and procedure costs, not consultation.
As a result of not signing the MoU, empanelled private hospitals in the state except Manipal Hospitals have not begun admitting patients with the DDSSY cards. On enquiry, some hospitals said they would begin taking patients under the scheme later this month. Others said they had no time frame of when it would begin admitting patients.
Meanwhile, Goa Electronics Limited (GEL) in charge of issuing cards said the collection of cards has been slow because of the festive season but would pick up later in the month.
Speaking to The Goan, GEL Chariman Dattaprasad Naik said there were four cases where cards had been issued urgently.
“These were special cases where the patient was in need of immediate treatment and four cards were issued in a matter of 12 hours,” he said.
Manipal Hospitals have registered ten patients of which five were operated and treated under the DDSSY scheme. Cases operated on by doctors at the hospital include gall bladder stone with CBD exploration, cancer of the uterus, oral cavity cancer, spine surgery with implant, laparoscopic cholecystectomy and an angiography. Next week, the hospital plans on treating a patient with cancer of the stomach.
Details under the scheme for private empanelled hospitals have seen ups and downs as it has changed from day one of its announcement. Initially, GMC said it would retain a majority of the procedures and let only a few to be treated by the private sector. This however, was met with objection and later all 477 procedures were opened to private hospitals.
