PANAJI
AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday tore into the Goa government’s healthcare model, demanding that the Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana (DDSSY) be redesigned to provide Rs 10 lakh health insurance per family without any restrictions or conditions.
Flanked by the party's two legislators Venzy Viegas and Cruz Silva, Goa State in-charge Atishi and State president Valmiki Naik among other leaders, Kejriwal said the scheme is “poorly designed, inadequately funded and excludes crucial procedures.”
He compared Goa’s system with Punjab, where AAP claims every family enjoys Rs 10 lakh coverage across 2,350 treatment packages, including private hospitals, with timely reimbursements.
“Wipe out corruption from Goa, stop filling politicians’ pockets, and the government can easily provide Rs 10 lakh health cover to every family,” Kejriwal declared.
The AAP leader listed four major flaws in Goa's DDSSY: inadequate coverage of Rs 4 lakh for small families and Rs 6 lakh for larger ones; restricted to 447 procedures, excluding essential treatments like PET scans and cataract surgeries; private hospitals refusing DDSSY cards due to delayed reimbursements; and outdated treatment rates fixed at 2016 levels.
He noted that the scheme’s reach has shrunk. In 2022‑23, 2.95 lakh cards were issued. By 2025‑26, the figure had dropped to 1.81 lakh, leaving many families without support.
Sixteen lakh Goans depend on government services but infrastructure is inadequate, specialists are scarce, and medicines often unavailable.
GMC, the State government’s only super‑speciality hospital, is overcrowded. South Goa District Hospital has vacant posts and the ID hospital, Ponda still lacks promised upgrades.
He argued that Goa, with one of the highest per capita budgets in the country, can afford better healthcare if corruption is eliminated.
“Goa deserves a system that is effective, efficient and fully functional,” he said and demanded that the BJP government raise the DDSSY coverage to Rs 10 lakh per family, remove eligibility restrictions, expand the list of treatments included and ensure timely hospital payments.
“No patient should be denied treatment because of delayed reimbursements,” he said..
Viegas added that access to quality healthcare for the public should not be dependent on their political connections or financial status.
“Quality healthcare whether government or private must be equally accessible to every Goan,” he said, adding that raising the DDSSY limit to Rs 10 lakh per family will ensure this..
He said, if the government fails to accept the demand, AAP will make it one of its main promises in the manifesto.
