Insurance scheme for Russians a big hit
VIBHA VERMA
PANJIM, DEC 7
The one-year-old ‘cashless insurance’ cover for the Russians in Goa has received a whopping 124 cases, in a mere two months since the tourist season kicked off in October this year.
While, three Russian tourists succumbed to death, remaining were trivial cases which were dealt with successfully.
The Moscow administration, last year ensured a much secured holiday for the Russians here by taking care of their medical emergencies.
Moscow-based firm ‘Liga of Defence and Medical Assistance (LDM)’ enforced a cashless insurance to its travelers and also their representatives in Goa will attend to the customer 24 x 7 in case of medical emergencies.
“From October 5, 2010 till date, we have attended a total of 124 cases, out of which three were deaths,” the company’s legal advisor Vikram Varma told Herald.
The senior most among the deceased – Irina Oganesyan (78), wife of a scientific officer with Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Russia Dr Yury Oganesyan, died of heart attack while touring the coastal state.
Another tourist, Igor Sukhanov (48) also died of heart stroke. Whereas, 28-year-old Evgeny Dergachy died of ‘accidental drowning’ at a resort swimming pool, incidentally a day prior to his birthday on October 11, 2010.
Few of the other cases included fractures, head injuries, kidney failures and minor accidents. Considering the rise in cases, the company expects to receive 500-odd cases by the end of the tourist season.
From its launch in December 2009 till date, the company received nearly 240 cases, all of which are being handled by a team of six members comprising of four Russians and two Goans.
Varma said the insurance covers both legal and medical necessities to short term Russian tourists in Goa. “The money reimbursement amount is upto $30,000 (Rs 13-lakh approximately) to each Russian tourist who is covered by two insurance companies namely European Insurance (EI) and Rozno,” he said.
The overall billing for the present term has been around Rs 12-lakhs, so far.
The Russian embassy this year expects over 60,000 tourists in Goa, of which around 45,000 are covered under by EI and Rozno.
Goa is the pioneer state to launch LDM in the country in December 22, 2009. Though the tourist season was coming to an end, the company received 173 big and small cases. “We saved 32 lives because of timely response in the past tourist season,” Varma added.
The insurance cover provides facilities like ambulance, medical treatment, evacuation, transportation of dead bodies, etc. It is also tied up with state’s best private hospitals for good support.
“With improved quality of medical support to Russian tourists, I am confident that we can establish Goa as an excellent tourist destination for Russian families,” he said.
Although the medical benefits would come easy for the customers, the insurance cover is not extended for law breakers including drunken driving or narcotics related accidents.
“Any person who is involved in illegal activities will not be given insurance even though they are covered under the insurance. However, we will examine any suspicious situation, if the victim comes on record,” he said.
Goa received Russia’s first chartered tourist flight carrying 300 passengers in the first week of October.
With this, the company expects to promote medical tourism mainly because of the low medical cost. “Goa has proved to have excellent medical facilities and I am confident of opening avenues for medical tourism in Goa,” said the legal advisor.
