The DDSSY (Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana) was made for the benefits of the Goans utilizing the huge amount of Money from the taxpayer’s income, and it becomes the milking cow for many private hospitals in the state and they have started charging any amount to the patients. Due to this one of the well known private hospital in Goa has already been removed from the scheme by the Goa Governments, and to stop the further exploitation of the fund’s Government has decided to streamline the expenses under DDSSY Scheme…
Who does not want to encash on the opportunity, and the hospitals which have become the biggest business hubs in our country cannot remain aloof from this. The newly introduced DDSSY (Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana) Scheme has become a milking cow for many private hospitals in the state, and the private hospitals are advertising the heavily to lure the patients to their clinics to utilize the DDSSY Scheme money.
In one such recent case of overcharging that has come into the light some days back made the government authorities into removing the hospital from DDSSY scheme. According to the report published by the local daily The Navhind Times, In order to streamline expenses under the Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana (DDSSY), a government health insurance scheme, the state government has made it mandatory for the private hospitals empanelled under the scheme to take a written feedback from the beneficiary on discharge.
The government has appointed empanelment consultant for the scheme and circulated a letter to the impanelled private hospitals in this regard. Sources said that the government is in the process of revising the DDSSY scheme in order to bring in more procedures and more hospitals as an exercise of streamlining the flagship medical insurance scheme. A senior official said that the Directorate of health services has already completed two rounds of meeting with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar for revising the scheme.
It may be recalled that there have been allegations about additional charges by private hospitals while treating patients under the scheme. According to the letter signed by empanelment consultant of DDSSY Dr Yogesh Potdar, the beneficiary should give a signed statement that he or she has not been charged additionally and only for the room charges, if he or she has consented for up gradation at the time of admission. “The statement should be countersigned by an official signatory of the hospital. For claims processing, the declaration and the consent have been made mandatory,” the letter said.
The DDSSY scheme was launched by BJP government led by then chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar. The scheme, being implemented by the United India Insurance Company, provides an insurance cover for Goans in medical treatment and certain procedures. The scheme covers the medical treatment and hospital room charges of beneficiaries, who are allowed to upgrade the room, provided they pay the differential amount to the concerned hospital.
Meanwhile, some private hospitals have raised concern over the letter coming from the empanelment consultant instead of the directorate of health services, which is the nodal agency of the state government for implementation of the scheme. Sources in the government said that though the move to make written feedback from the beneficiary mandatory in impanelled private hospitals is commendable, it should not reflect lack of coordination between the nodal agency and the consultant while streamlining the scheme.
Let’s hope that the new development may lead to some improvement in the system and the patients do not get fleeced by the private hospitals under the shelter of Scheme. What is your opinion on this? Please share your valuable and honest comments on this serious issue.
SOURCE: THE NAVHIND TIMES
