Team Herald
MARGAO: Herald has exposed yet another Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana (DDSSY) transfer case, the alleged nexus of government staff in Hospicio and private hospitals unduly favouring latter, wherein a senior citizen from Ambaji, Fatorda has been taken for a ride in the name of referring for further treatment.
Now, in a new revelation, 62-year-old patient Querobino S Rodrigues, insured under DDSSY, has alleged that he was made to pay a Rs 80,000 and with no treatment at all. The affected patient alleged that there is no cardiac intervention facility at the referred private hospital at all.
Rodrigues, who had a bypass surgery in 2000, took ill in the last week of June. He visited Hospicio and was asked to go for an ECG. The patient was kept in Hospicio and allegedly wasn’t allowed to talk to his wife till June 26. He was shifted to a private hospital where he was kept in the ICU for urgent attention on June 30.
“For days I was kept in the ICU and provided with medication only. I heard that they wanted to get some specialist from outside, which they failed to do so even after 8 days,” Querobino informed.
“While in the ICU there was no talk on further treatment. And this made me to understand that the hospital has no facility for cardiac patients. Only angiography and further transfer,” he alleged.
It is pertinent to note that in the past, there have been incidents wherein
patients were asked to wait for four days by the Hospital officials for want of doctors.
Querobino claimed that he had to shell out not less than Rs 60,000 from his own pocket to proceed to Bangalore for treatment along with his family and all this without a single rupee from the DDSSY insurance. This added to the earlier amount spent at the private hospital totalling to Rs 1.4 lakh.
“The insurance has to cover all the expenses of retired persons, which is not happening even after being insured under DDSSY,” Querobino alleged.
Pradip Padgaonkar of Aam Aadmi Party alleged that DDSSY was not only discriminatory but was used to help private hospitals make huge money.
Responding to media reports exposing hardships to the people covered under DDSSY, Padgaonkar claimed that money is being made on the people’s sufferings.
“Everything that the government does here has a motive to make money. Why trouble the common man by referring him to private hospitals? Earlier, the Dayanand Social Security Scheme was doled out to even government servants and the affluent on condition of owing allegiance to BJP. How low can the corrupt system go?” asked Padgaonkar, who demanded that public healthcare be made available to all Goans without any discrimination.
