‘Withdraw order on mandatory use of health card in govt. hospitals’

Bengal doctor’s association writes to Mamata saying the order will only fatten wallets of insurance firms

A prominent association of doctors in West Bengal has written to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, asking her to revoke a recent order that makes it mandatory for patients to use the Swasthya Sathi card while seeking treatment in government-run hospitals.

Swasthya Sathi is the Trinamool Congress Government’s insurance scheme providing a cover of ₹5 lakh a year per family. According to the Joint Platform of Doctors, treatment at government hospitals was always free and using the insurance card there would not only lead to decrement of the sum assured but would also fatten the wallets of insurance companies. The premium paid to the insurance companies, the body pointed out, was nothing but the taxpayers’ money.

“When the scheme was launched, [it was not meant as a tool] to raise funds for government hospitals from the insurance companies, who in turn are fed by the Government’s own exchequer through the annual premium. Had it been operationalised by the Government’s own machinery to settle cashless claims in private hospitals (when downtrodden people get themselves admitted anyway in compelling situations) without accommodating any insurance agency and continue to deliver free services at government hospitals as before, then a sizable amount of money could be saved, which could well be utilised to expand the health infrastructure,” the platform wrote in a letter to Ms. Banerjee earlier this week.