In a major reprieve to weaker and underprivileged sections of society, the Health and Family Welfare Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu, on Tuesday, announced that Punjab Government led by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has decided to provide free treatment to Covid-19 patients falling under Sarbat Sehat Beema Yojna in empanelled private hospitals.
The Health Minister said that the facility will be available in the hospitals equipped for offering Covid-19 treatment at cap rates ranging from Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 18,000 per day, which are the same rates that have been fixed for private hospitals in the state for the general public. He said that the state government will bear the entire differential treatment cost derived after deducting the cost payable by the insurance company from the cap rates. Sidhu unequivocally said that cap rates are all-inclusive, that includes bed, PPE kits, medicines, consumables, monitoring/nursing care, doctor’s fee, investigations, and oxygen, etc.
The Minister said that SSBY beneficiaries can directly visit empanelled private hospitals without any need for a referral from the public hospitals for Covid-19 treatment adding that this initiative shall bring immense relief to the vulnerable and deprived section of the state population, who will now be able to avail level 2 and level 3 treatment care in empanelled private hospitals.
He said that earlier, the treatment available in these empanelled private hospitals was payable as per SSBY scheme rates fixed by the Government of India that range from Rs 1,800 to Rs 4,500, which were too less to be viable for the hospital to meet expenses of treatment of a Covid-19 patient that entails additional cost on account of PPE kits, masks, consumables, and isolation, etc. Sidhu said that though the treatment of Covid-19 beneficiary patients was totally free in the public hospitals right from the beginning, the state government decided to bear the additional expenses and allow free treatment of Covid-19 patients in empanelled private hospitals at cap rates under the scheme to provide relief to a large section of the society.