PANAJI
Speaking to media persons after the meeting, Dr Shekhar Salkar, specialist at Manipal Hospitals said most of the problems faced by hospitals can be traced to faulty IT related issues and payment from the insurance company. "Most of our issues are IT related as they are not getting uploaded with too many files to be uploaded. But these issues can be sorted. This scheme isn't like any other scheme and the government is certainly interested in sorting out the problem. There are a lot of grassroot level problems," he said.He also said that a representative of the insurance company, United India Insurance Ltd who was present for the meeting had assured hospital owners, officers and doctors that the payment would be made soon."The insurance company has started depositing money, but the amount is low. They have said the problem is with the Aadhaar card linkage. But an assurance has been given to us and has also said a penalty could be forced against them for non-payment of dues. Every 15 days, the money should come and over a period of time, the problem would be solved," said Salkar. Regular meetings between the hospitals and the department have also been called for and would be done on a monthly basis. The DHS director has asked the hospitals to pen down their issues and submit it within 7 to 10 days, wherein a district and State committee would be set up to listen to their grievances.Speaking about the scheme itself, Salkar said it was unlike any other health scheme devised in the State adding that it was far better than the mediclaim scheme that was in place in previous years."Mediclaim and health insurance are two different concepts, there were not many who could take the benefits of the mediclaim but DDSSY, everyone can. This scheme needs to continue for long so we too as hospitals, can have the infrastructure in place for the future. It therefore needs to be a continuous process," he said.Extending the scheme to peripheral areas of the State was also discussed as being important to better the scheme.
