SATURDAY, MAY 11, 2024
Team Herald
Panjim: The whopping rates, “capped”, by the Goa government for treatment of COVID-19 patients in the private hospitals, have invited severe criticism on various social platforms.
The public has accused government of “exploitation” in the times of the pandemic, while seeking to know whether the treatment is covered under cashless insurance scheme- Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana (DDSY) or Aayushman Bharat.
The opposition parties including Congress and Aam Aadmi party (AAP) has also raised question over the government’s intention behind such exorbitant charges.
The Goa government has capped the rent for a bed in a general ward of a private hospital at Rs 12,000 per day; private rooms-- on a twin sharing basis-- at Rs 15,000 per day; and Rs 18,000 per day was the upper limit set for a single private room; while Rs 25,000 per day is set for a bed in an ICU with a ventilator.
The charges include all regular expenses including bed charges, nursing services, resident doctor fee, nutritional diet, PPE kits for the staff and routinely prescribed medicines, but is exclusive of charges incurred for consulting a specialist, an intensivist, a diagnostic intensivist, or the cost of special drugs or equipment or any other procedures or surgeries carried out during the treatment.
“Is this real??? What about ‘Goa being the the only State that gives free treatment for COVID-19’. These rates are of VVIP,” tweeted Leon Coutinho.
“That’s the monthly salary of most people. To have the audacity to give us pathetic health care from our own money and to then help private health care providers to hold us to ransom and charge high fees or let us die, is a joke. This is not a people’s government,” Sonaldo Fernandes, tweeted.
Another Twitterian reacted, “I wonder what they did with the Prime Minister Cares Fund and those donations towards the COVID Relief Fund. Where does that money go?”
Xaveir Fernandes questions, “What is the use of DDSSY card? The Government should bring the treatment under DDSSY or else its better we don’t renew it”.
Manisha Kamat, a teacher said, “Why is COVID treatment not covered under DDSSY or Aayushman Bharat? This is the time when people need the maximum insurance cover”.
The opposition parties also echoed their views. “This is loot. The Goa BJP Government is looting the people in the name of COVID. At these rates, people will prefer to die at home than be treated in hospitals,” said Congress spokesperson Amarnath Panjikar.
“How do you expect a common Goan to get himself treated at such a high price? Goans are struggling to meet their daily needs in the current pandemic. The government has absolutely no interest in standing with Goans in these difficult times,” AAP spokesperson Rahul Mhambre said.
This is just some of the wide-ranging criticism to this decision of the government. While many calculated how much it would cost family members, if they would have to be admitted for many days at a stretch, others expressed anguish over the fact that the government felt that this rates are okay for the public given the extra-ordinary circumstances in these coronavirus pandemic times. Given that the cases are also rising at an alarming rate, including the death toll, the general public was shocked and surprised.
