A cashless healthcare scheme for the poor in Rajasthan is unconscionably milked by private hospitals
IT’S evening in Karni colony, Jaipur— the sun is finally threatening to set. Govind, 30, is trying to quell the agitation welling up inside him, but in vain. The 8x8 ft rented room, with a sparse attached kitchen, costs him Rs 6,000 a month. Medicines are arranged neatly on a concrete slab, perhaps to soak up blessings from the gods they share the slab with. His sister and he have been praying. On one side, their mother Yashoda Devi lies motionless on a metal cot—her eyes open, a cooler easing her discomfort. A pipe runs up one of her nostrils, one down her throat. She has stopped speaking.
Yashoda Devi has been here since her discharge from hospital in March. In January, Govind’s mother fell uncon scious—her sugar levels had fallen to 45 mg/dL. Her medical report mentions she suffered from ‘Post Hypoglycemic Encephalopathy’.
Govind works in a cloth shop in Churu, in the Shekhawati region, where doctors advised him to take the patient to Jaipur or Bikaner. On January 13, he took her to Jaipur, over 200 km away. (His sister and his mother’s niece live there.) Doctors at the Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Medical College couldn’t admit Yashoda Devi, but said she needed an ICU.
Govind says he went to Apex Hospital next, where doctors refused to admit her under the Bhamashah Swasthya Bima Yojana (BSBY), despite him carrying a card. The scheme, launched in 2015, aims to provide free, cashless healthcare via Aadhaar for BPL families. “They finally made her hospital file under Bhamashah on January 15 after my cousin, a lawyer, asked them to state their refusal in writing. They got a bit scared,” Govind tells Outlook.
This story is from the June 11, 2018 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the June 11, 2018 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Will Hindutva Survive After 2024?
The idealogy of Hindutva faces a challenge in staying relevant
A Terrific Tragicomedy
Paul Murray's The Bee Sting is a tender and extravagant sketch of apocalypse
Trapped in a Template
In the upcoming election, more than the Congress, the future of the Gandhi family is at stake
IDEOLOGY
Public opinion will never be devoid of ideology: but we shall destroy ourselves without philosophical courage
The Many Kerala Stories
How Kerala responded to the propaganda film The Kerala Story
Movies and a Mirage
Previously portrayed as a peaceful paradise, post-1990s Kashmir in Bollywood has become politicised
Lights, Cinema, Politics
FOR eight months before the 1983 state elections in undivided Andhra Pradesh, a modified green Chevrolet van would travel non-stop, except for the occasional pit stops and food breaks, across the state.
Cut, Copy, Paste
Representation of Muslim characters in Indian cinema has been limited—they are either terrorists or glorified individuals who have no substance other than fixed ideas of patriotism
The Spectre of Eisenstein
Cinema’s real potency to harness the power of enchantment might want to militate against its use as a servile, conformist propaganda vehicle
The Thalaiva Factor
At atime when Bollywood Is churning out propagandist narratives, south cinema, too, has Stories to tell