Government cashless treatments benefitted 1.4L, health minister says

The government decided to pay for the high-end tests, certain surgeries that are either not provided in its hospitals or have a long waiting period, and treatment for all road accident, fire, and acid attack victims in Delhi.

More than 1.4 lakh people have received cashless treatment and high-end diagnostic services at private hospitals and centres under three schemes of the Delhi government since they began in 2017, health minister Satyendar Jain said on Friday.

Under the scheme, patients receiving treatment at Delhi government hospitals could get 86 listed surgeries at private centres if the waiting period in the former was more than 30 days.(HT image)

The government decided to pay for the high-end tests, certain surgeries that are either not provided in its hospitals or have a long waiting period, and treatment for all road accident, fire, and acid attack victims in Delhi.

The procedures are paid for from the Delhi government’s Delhi Arogya Kosh corpus fund. Prior to the schemes being launched, the corpus funded the treatment of poor patients in need of implants, and other apparatus that had to be purchased.

The schemes aim to universalise free, efficient and quality healthcare for all.

Launched in February 2017, 134,609 patients got tests such as MRI, CT, PET CT, and mammography at 23 private labs till June 2019, according to data provided by the government. The hospitals and polyclinics were able to refer Delhi residents for these tests if they were unavailable or the waiting period was too long, under the scheme.

Under the scheme, patients receiving treatment at Delhi government hospitals could get 86 listed surgeries at private centres if the waiting period in the former was more than 30 days. Till June this year, 4,654 patients availed cardiac, urology, general, ENT and eye surgeries.

Another scheme to provide cashless treatment to victims of all accident, fire, and acid attack incidents within Delhi launched in February 2018.

Under the scheme, 2,938 accident victims and one acid attack victim has been treated. Victims can avail benefits if admitted to the hospital within 24 hours of the incident.

“We want to provide free and quality healthcare to all, and are making avenues to reduce the burden on government hospitals while simultaneously ensuring timely treatment for patients,” the health minister said.