Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Jan 3: A defunct internet connection at Capital Hospital has dashed the hopes of poor patients seeking funds under government insurance schemes for treatment of their ailments.
The internet problem, which has persisted for the past five days, has led to a disruption of the link between the hospital and the various insurance companies that provide funds to the poor for their treatment under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY) and the Biju Krushak Kalyan Yojana (BKKY).
Hospital sources revealed that about 200 poor patients seek to avail funds from RSBY and about 100 seek BKKY funds every day. As such, an estimated 1,500 patients have suffered as they have had to pay huge amounts for their treatment despite being insured.
RSBY provides health insurance coverage to families below the poverty line (BPL). The beneficiaries are entitled to hospitalisation coverage up to Rs 30,000 for most of the diseases. The beneficiaries need to pay only Rs 30 as registration fee with the central and state governments paying the premium to the insurer. As many as 29,76,147 BPL families in the state are insured under this scheme.
“My seven-year-old son suffered a head injury while playing. The doctors here have advised a CT scan and various other tests which cost a lot. I went to avail money from my insurance card, but the authorities here have said that there is ‘no link’ and no funds,” said Balakrishna Sahu, a resident of Khurda. People covered under the BKKY are facing similar hardships. The scheme is meant for the farmers of the state and provides them financial support through health and accident insurance. The cover is especially designed for the rural population, which accounts for 83 per cent of the total population of the state.
“The internet connection in the hospital had some problem for the past few days because of some technical reasons. This had led to a link failure as our staff could not connect to the host companies. The problem will be resolved soon,” said Biswa Bhusan Pattnaik, the director of Capital Hospital.
