Video Editor: Purnendu Pritam and Ashutosh Bharadwaj
When 68-year-old Kanchan Devi, Chittorgarh resident Bhagwan Giri’s wife, met with an accident last year, the family rushed her to Fortis Hospital in Udaipur.
There was, however, more bad news to come. Giri was informed that he won’t be allowed to avail cashless treatment under Bhamashah Yojana, a scheme started by the Rajasthan government in 2015, that provides an insurance cover of Rs 3 lakhs to BPL families.
“I have a Bhamashah card, yet, I had to pay Rs 40,000 for the surgery. We were told to pay an additional amount of Rs 2,80,000. I’m a poor man, so had to come back.”Bhagwan Giri (Resident, Aral village, Chittorgarh)
Cashless Treatment ‘Denied’
Giri’s family then took Kanchan Devi to Pacific Hospital in Udaipur, where she breathed her last. Had Kanchan Devi received proper treatment in time, she may have survived. It’s this gnawing thought that doesn’t let Bhagwan Giri sleep in peace.
Showing an array of documents that he has compiled carefully in Kanchan Devi’s ‘discharge file’, Giri keeps pointing towards the Bhamashah card that was made in his wife’s name. Being a Bhamashah card holder meant that Giri’s family had an insurance cover of Rs 3 lakh. Yet, they had to bear Kanchan Devi’s medical expenses on their own. So, what went wrong, one might ask.
When The Quint contacted Fortis Hospital in Udaipur, we were told that the hospital was not covered under Bhamashah Yojana until February this year.
Bhamashah Card Holders Demand Reimbursement
Lack of awareness is just one of the problems associated with Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s dream project on public health.
In Chittorgarh’s Aral village, several families belonging to the BPL category complain that they were asked to pay for medical bills by private hospitals.
When Nanalal Sen went for the treatment of his older brother, Ghisulal, who had suffered a heart attack, he was asked to pay Rs 13,000.
“My older brother, Ghisulal, was admitted to a hospital in Chittorgarh. Then we took him to Udaipur. Initially, we had deposited Rs 5,000. During the treatment, medicines cost us Rs 8,000. So, we spent total of Rs 13,000.”Nanalal Sen (Resident, Aral village, Chittorgarh)
When The Quint contacted Udaipur-based Pacific Hospital, the concerned person at the Bhamashah department refused to comment on this particular case. However, he did clarify that the cardiology package, which includes heart ailments, is available at the hospital.
Leasing Out Land to Pay Medical Bills
When Ramudi Bai, a resident of Chittorgarh’s Bassi village, fell ill earlier this year, she was admitted to Bhilwara’s Siddhi Vinayak Hospital. Here, her treatment for typhoid cost Ramudi Bai Rs 30,000.
“When my Bhamashah card was shown to the concerned authorities at the hospital, I was told that it won’t be accepted here. I had to spend Rs 30,000 on treatment and didn’t receive any benefit related to the Bhamashah card.”Ramudi Bai (Resident, Bassi village, Chittorgarh)
Ramudi Bai had to give her land on lease to clear the hospital bill of Rs 30, 000.
Will ‘Ayushman Bharat’ Create More Hurdles?
With Bhamashah beneficiaries being denied cashless treatment, activists now fear that the newly-launched Ayushman Bharat scheme by the Modi government will create more problems.
“The Rajasthan government is still not sure how they are going to merge Bhamashah with Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. Many patients, who have already exhausted their cover of Rs 3 lakhs under Bhamashah Swasthya Bima Yojana, are still not sure since when will they be able to avail the benefit of Rs 5 lakhs.”Chhaya Pachouli, Rajasthan Coordinator, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan
In September 2018, the New India Assurance Company, a PSU walked out of Bhamashah Yojana, as the Rajasthan government had failed to pay a premium of Rs 107 crore.
Frauds, delay in the payment of premium and five-fold increase in the number of claims, these have been some of the problems associated with Bhamashah Yojana. An abysmal track record of the scheme certainly doesn’t bode well for the state government in an election year.
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