Goa’s health system is collapsed, learn from Punjab and give health insurance of Rs 10 lakh, CM: Arvind Kejriwal

Chandigarh: Aam Aadmi Party’s national convenor Arvind Kejriwal has asked the Chief Minister of Goa to take a lesson from the Punjab government and provide health insurance of Rs 10 lakh to the people of his state. He said that the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab is unconditionally giving health insurance of Rs 10 lakh to every family. Similarly, it should be given to every family of Goa and all diseases should be covered. Also, like Punjab, empaneled private hospitals in Goa should be paid within 15 days, so that hospitals do not deny treatment to patients. He said that like the ministers and the rich, even the poorest of the poor in Goa deserves treatment in the best hospital and this is the ideal situation.

Arvind Kejriwal’s big statement   

Putting forward the dilapidated health model of Goa, Arvind Kejriwal said that the entire health system of Goa has collapsed. The situation is such that Goa’s only super specialty hospital is overcrowded and beds are not available without recommendation. While 193 posts are vacant in South Goa District Hospital, the ID Hospital in Ponda does not even have medical equipment. The government definitely launched the DDSSY scheme, but Goans have become disillusioned with it. Cards were made for a total of 2.91 lakh families, but out of these, 1.81 lakh families have stopped using the cards. Today 90 percent of people cannot afford a private hospital in case of serious illness.

AAP’s national convenor Arvind Kejriwal said that Goa’s health system has completely collapsed. There are two types of health services in Goa. First, one is private and second is government. If any serious illness occurs, almost 90 percent of Goans depend on government health services. Private health services are so expensive that 90 percent of the population cannot afford to get treated in private hospitals in case of serious illness. People may go to a private doctor for a common cold, cough or fever, but if there is a serious surgery or illness, no one can dare to get treated in a private hospital. If we assume that the population of Goa is 18 lakh, then about 16 lakh people are dependent on government health services and only 2 lakh people can afford private hospitals and perhaps even 2 lakh is a very big figure.

Arvind Kejriwal further said that there are many private hospitals, but in the government sector there is only one super specialty hospital, GMC. The condition of GMC is very bad, there is more crowd than necessary. If you want a bed there, someone’s recommendation has to be made. When you go to a doctor, he prescribes medicines, which have to be bought from outside. Due to the expensiveness of medicines, most people are not able to buy them. The less said about GMC, the better. His condition is very bad. There is only one GMC in the entire state, so it takes two hours to get there from Canacona. If an emergency occurs, the patient will die within two hours. It takes an hour to reach there from Ponda.

Arvind Kejriwal said that apart from this, there is South Goa District Hospital, where 193 posts are lying vacant. There are not many specialists there and there is a severe shortage of medicines. That hospital is completely at a standstill. Only basic medical equipment is missing in ID Hospital, Ponda. He is not adequately equipped. There is neither CT scan nor MRI. There are eight lifts, seven of which are out of order. ID Hospital Ponda has mostly become just a referral hospital. All the patients who come are referred to GMC. There are no specialists, there is a huge shortage of staff and there are not many doctors, even though this hospital has been built for 12 years. In this way the entire government health system of Goa has completely collapsed.

Kejriwal made this claim   

Arvind Kejriwal said that 90 percent of the people do not know where to go if someone in their house falls ill. To provide relief to the people, the government had launched the Deendayal Health Service Scheme, so that if someone does not get proper treatment in a government hospital, he can go to a private hospital and get treatment. The amount of this scheme has now been increased to an insurance of Rs 4 lakh for a family of three for the whole year. If there are four or more members in the family, this amount is Rs 6 lakh. But in today’s time, Rs 4 lakh and Rs 6 lakh are nothing.

Arvind Kejriwal said that people will be surprised to know that the coverage of this scheme has decreased instead of increasing. Cards were issued to 2.95 lakh families in the year 2022-23, but by 2025-26 this figure has fallen to 1.81 lakh. About 1.25 lakh people have stopped using their cards. It is clear from this that people are not getting any benefit from this scheme.

Arvind Kejriwal said that the ideal situation is to make the government health system effective, efficient and functional. But this will take time and until that happens, people cannot be left to die. Therefore, what we have done in Punjab is that we have given insurance cover of Rs 10 lakh to every family. There is no income limit or any other eligibility criteria for this. Only the person should be a resident of Punjab.

Arvind Kejriwal said that while 447 diseases are covered in Goa, 2350 diseases and procedures are covered in Punjab. This is six times more than Goa. Almost everything is covered and if any disease is left out, we add that too. Our government is very sensitive to the demands and needs of the people. Almost all hospitals (government and private) in Punjab are included in this. Hospitals get paid within 15 days and are paid as per today’s market rate. Not even 6 months have passed since this scheme was implemented and we are getting excellent feedback from people.

Arvind Kejriwal said that there is no politics in this, only people should benefit. Therefore, today we appeal to the Chief Minister of Goa to adopt the good policies of Punjab and implement this scheme of insurance of Rs 10 lakh in Goa also. If this scheme is implemented in Goa, then private hospitals like Manipal Hospital, Victor Hospital, Healthway, Galaxy and Redkar Hospital will become accessible to the general public. People will not have to travel for two hours to reach GMC.

Arvind Kejriwal told that these are the hospitals where the richest and politically influential people get their treatment. If this scheme is implemented, then these hospitals will become accessible to even the poorest of the poor in Goa and everyone will start getting equal treatment. On behalf of the people of Goa, we appeal to the Chief Minister of Goa that the Rs 10 lakh insurance scheme of the “AAP” government of Punjab should be implemented in Goa also.

Deen Dayal Health Service Scheme failed in Goa due to these four reasons-    

1. Less amount:Its amount is very less. Nowadays, if someone suffers from a serious disease like heart attack or cancer, then the treatment of a single disease costs more than Rs 4 lakh.

2. Less coverage of diseases:The number of diseases and procedures covered under this scheme is very less, it is just 447. This does not even include cataract surgery (our MLA Venji Viegas gets cataract surgery done anyway). Apart from this, it does not include PET scan, which is necessary for cancer detection. Many cancer therapies and procedures are not included in this. It covers so few diseases that the entire scheme has become irrelevant and meaningless for most of the people of Goa.

3. Delay in Payment:The government does not give treatment money to hospitals on time. The money remains pending for several months, due to which hospitals stop accepting the DDSSY card. People carry the card, but hospitals do not provide treatment on that card.

4. Old Rates:The rates at which the government pays hospitals were set in 2016. Most of the hospitals feel that these rates are not beneficial for them, hence they make some excuse or the other and do not accept this card.