TEAM HERALD

teamherald@herald-goa.com

MARGAO: Asserting that the Universal health insurance scheme launched by the previous government was wrongly conceptualised, Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardessai has urged the Parrikar government to revise and re-tender the Suvarna Jayanti Arogya Bima Yojana by creating a monitoring mechanism for its implementation.

He told newsmen that the scheme was launched in a hurry and is being implemented through ICCI Lombard in a haphazard manner.

Justifying his demand, the Independent MLA said that the scheme is being implemented with obsolete data and on the basis of 2007 data, thus depriving benefits to large section of the population. 

“There is general confusion in the public mind on registration procedures, especially the lower strata of society, which is actually the target group sought to be benefited by the scheme. The scheme was launched without consulting private hospitals, the stakeholders that are supposed to provide these services”, he said.

Citing several glaring discrepancies in the scheme where the same procedure has been entered in different places with different charges, the MLA said the rates as per the scheme are absolutely unviable and unrealistic. 

“This is the reason why only 20 per cent of the private hospitals in Goa have registered for the scheme. The 80 per cent have stayed away not because they did not want to cooperate with the government or ICICI Lombard, but because they did not want to do a fraud”, he said.

Vijai said the problem of unrealistic rates have led to hospitals billing the patients for multiple procedures or patients being made to pay the difference when according to the scheme, the patients should not be charged. “The multiple billing procedure is being done with full knowledge of ICICI Lombard as it suits the insurance company since they have to pay hospitals less (since only a small number of registered persons avail benefit of thes scheme”, but the government pays them on a number of registered people, so their profits increase due to this mismatch”, he claimed.

... says Alina owes explanation over clearing of ore dumps

TEAM HERALD

teamherald@herald-goa.com

MARGAO: Describing the government as mining friendly,  MLA Vijai Sardessai said that Environment Minister, Alina Saldanha owes an explanation to the people of Goa over the government’s decision to allow clearing of dumps when she had vowed not to grant even an inch of forest land for mining.

“The Environment Minister should tell the people how she proposes to protect forest cover when the government is granting permissions for clearing dumps”, he told newsmen.

Sardessai recalled the Environment Minister as saying she would not give an inch of forest land for mining, but lamented that hectares of forest land will be destroyed in the state if ore dumps in forest areas are clearing by the mining companies.

He said these dumps have been existing for over 4-5 decades and have become forests over long period of time, adding their clearance will only add to the degradation of the environment and ecology”.

“The government is involved in rhetoric on mining, but there’s no action on the ground. They are all hand in gloves and nothing will come out from the Environment Minister”, he said, adding that he would take up the issue in the forthcoming session of the Assembly.