Team Herald

PANJIM: Congress has demanded that the State government empanel hospitals where Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar underwent treatment for pancreatic ailment, under the Deen Dayal Swasthy Seva Yojana (DDSSY), to ensure that the common man avails the benefits of the advance treatment provided at the hospitals. 

In a letter to Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, Congress spokesperson Sidhanath Buyao demanded that the government empanel Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital and New York’s Sloan Kettering Cancer Center under the DDSSY scheme. 

Buyao said the need of hour is that the government look at having more hospitals empanelled under DDSSY as treatments like chemotherapy costs heavily and the common person cannot afford the same.

“For us, the life of every Gõykar is important. We have seen our CM treated in these hospitals and come back fit and fine and has resumed work. We expect you to intervene in the matter and provide the facilities available of such hospitals to the common man,” Buyao said in his letter. 

He said that though many ailments are covered under DDSSY, it has become difficult for patients to foot their medical bills as after GST prices of medicines have shot up. “In such circumstances Health Department should consider monthly mediclaim,” he demanded.

Buyao further said it is learnt that most empanelled hospitals do not accept the DDSSY health card due to pending payments from the Health Department. The hospital payments may be cleared immediately so that no one is deprived of the DDSSY scheme, he demanded.