PANAJI
Allowing the people of Goa, a monetary breather in the ongoing Covid crises, the State government has announced amendments in the ‘Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana’ (DDSSY), bringing Covid-19 under its benefit clause with immediate effect. Henceforth, patients admitted in private hospitals for the treatment of Covid-19 will be getting the benefit of this amendment and a part payment of their bills, would be borne by the government, albeit with an upper ceiling on the cost. A notification regarding this amendment was issued by the additional secretary (health) Vikas S N Gaunekar in the public health department on May 6, to be implemented with immediate effect.
The DDSSY approved charges for covid treatment as per the new announcement, are Rs 8,000 per day for the general ward and Rs 19,200 per day occupancy for the patient admitted in the ICU with a ventilator. The above package includes admission charges, intensivist, primary and specialist consultancy charges, bed charges, nursing, resident doctor, diet, PPE kits for staff, X-ray, ECG, USG, 2D Echo, cardiac monitor, infusion pump, catheterization, CBC, FBSI, PPBSL, HBA1c, creatinine, liver function test, blood group, routine medicine including multivitamin, vitamin C, zinc, vitamin D, paracetamol, antacid, anti-allergic, HCQ, Azithromycin, Doxycycline, Levofloxacin and Dexamethasone, Ivermectin and dietary charges.
However, the above package does not include diagnostic intervention, special drugs, use of special equipment, other special procedures/surgery etc and extra oxygen flow other than ICU.
The above rates will be subject to some conditions, such as, the claim would be restricted for a maximum 10 days from the date of admission. The per day charges will be calculated on the basis of 24 hours from the date of admission, anytime less than six hours will be ignored. The scheme for covid treatment will be applicable only to those DDSSY empaneled hospitals having only ICU facilities. The beneficiaries utilizing the twin sharing or special room, such claims will be restricted to the general ward charges and the difference amount will be paid by the beneficiary.
Brainchild of the Chief Minister of Goa, Manohar Parrikar, the DDSSY scheme has been a boon to the common citizens in the State, since its inception in September 2016 as 447 ailments are covered under it, the recent Covid-19 being the 448th addition. The minimum amount paid under the scheme is Rs 2.5 lakh. It is Rs 3-4 lakh for more than four persons. In Goa, 52 hospitals and outside Goa 27 hospitals are earmarked for the DDSSY. “The scheme operated in insurance mode till May 2019 and later the government changed it to trust mode. For the initial four years, the number of claims were around 75,000 and the total amount disbursed was around Rs 240 crore. In the last two years around 25,000 patients in Goa were treated under the DDSSY and the amount paid to the hospitals by the government was around Rs 120 crore,” briefed Balakrishna Pai, consultant, DDSSY for the government of Goa.
It was Pai who presented the concept of this scheme to the then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar who worked on it. Later the scheme was implemented in the tenure of the then Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and Pai was invited to be the government’s consultant on January 1, 2017 after he retired as regional manager from New India Assurance (an insurance company).
According to Pai the amount is released to the hospitals by the government every 15-30 days, normally. However, owners of some of the empaneled hospitals allege that the amount takes three to six months to release. One of the hospital owners in South Goa opined that the rates fixed for treating Covid-19 patients under the DDSSY do not cover their expenses and the onus of paying rest of the bill amount would be on the patient.
“If the government does not release our due amount on time, it would be very difficult for us to run the hospital, as the consultant charges, PPE kits, salaries to the staff, medicines and other treatment expenses are huge for treating Covid-19 and these are to be met on a daily basis. The government should have consulted with us on the rates/charges for treating Covid before fixing them,” says the hospital owner on condition of anonymity.
