PANJIM: Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Friday announced that patients from outside Goa would be charged twenty percent of the fee as prescribed in the State’s Deen Dayal Swastha Seva Yojana (DDSSY) charged by ‘C’ category hospitals. Locals will continue getting treatment free of cost.
The charging of fees (Phase 1) for non-Goan patients for availing medical services at government hospitals will begin from January 1, 2018 onwards.
Addressing media persons, Rane said, “State-run facilities, including Goa Medical College (GMC) and Hospital, will charge patients from outside Goa from January 1, 2018 onwards. This would be 20 percent of the fee as prescribed in the State’s DDSSY charged by ‘C’ category hospitals. This is Phase I and some more services will be made chargeable in the second phase. This step was taken to ensure that locals are given priority in these hospitals as State government is spending crores of rupees to maintain and upkeep these facilities.”
He added, “Nearly 30-40 percent of patients at these hospitals arrive from outside the State, especially from Maharashtra and Karnataka. We need to provide treatment on priority to the locals. In emergency cases patients would be given priority in these hospitals, even if the patient arrives from outside the State. Also those patients who are poor will not be charged though they are not locals.”
He further said that the Dean of GMC and Medical Superintendents of the district hospitals have powers to exempt poor patients from being charged even if they are not from Goa. “Also we have decided that Rs 50 per bed will be charged for non-Goan patients from January 1, 2018 onwards,” he said.
The Health Minister also said he would be meeting his counterparts from Maharashtra and Karnataka to check on the possibility of getting GMC empanelled in their medical schemes if any so that patients from those States can avail free treatment at hospitals in Goa.
“KLE Hospital at Belgaum offers a facility for Goans wherein by swiping the DDSY card, services can be availed. Goa is ready to offer such facilities to patients from neighbouring States if they want,” he said.
However, Rane also said the government has made it mandatory for local patients to provide DDSSY cards while availing free treatment facility at state run hospitals.
“State government is spending more than Rs 80 crore annually to pay premium to the insurance company under DDSSY but the number of patients taking benefit of the scheme is less. When the State is paying so much for the insurance firm, patients should start using the DDSSY cards,” Rane said.
The Minister also said that the Health Department has put up camps in various panchayats to enroll all the people under the DDSSY scheme.
