Complexities of PM-JAY portal put patients, docs in a fix

THE recent launch of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) in Odisha might have brought with itself the promise of improvement in healthcare delivery system but the complexities in its implementation on the ground has left patients and healthcare personnel in a sticky situation.

- EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Cuttack

In such a scenario, patients with life-threatening diseases, given the time-sensitive nature of their conditions, are more at risk as delay in treatment can pose severe consequences.

In a recent instance, a 52-year-old brain stroke patient, who was in coma and required immediate surgery, was turned away by a city-based private hospital because he could not undergo the iris scanning. Unable to avail the scheme's benefits and the pricey ICU charges left his family with no other option than to resort to leave the hospital. He was, however, lucky as the next hospital he got admitted to, carried out his iris scanning during the CT scanning procedure, and his surgery was conducted smoothly.