Bengaluru: A 72-year-old Bengaluru resident suffering from gastric cancer allegedly died after the hospital denied him the benefits of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana on December 25. The victim was a retired state government employee and died 15 days after his cancer diagnosis.
According to the media report, one of the family members said that the patient was further shocked when he came to know that the hospital refused to give him a cover of Rs 5 lakh under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana Senior Citizen Scheme, for which he had enrolled.
“Even though we had made an AB PM-JAY senior citizen card under which he was given an annual cover of Rs 5 lakh, the Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology (KMIO) refused to provide the benefits, saying the state government’s orders were yet to come. However, it gave us a discount of 50 per cent,” the Times of India quoted a family member as saying.
Scheme yet to be implemented
KMIO director-in-charge Dr Ravi Arjunan told the newspaper that the senior citizen scheme is yet to be implemented and orders are still awaited. The Karnataka government has confirmed that it has not yet implemented the scheme and has sought clarifications on its funding aspects.
Chemo sessions were needed
Let us tell you that under the Yushman Bharat Yojana, free insurance coverage of Rs 5 lakh is provided for people aged 70 years and above. The family member said that Rs 20,000 was spent on the initial scan itself and further chemo sessions were required for the treatment.
"We had planned to start chemotherapy twice at Kidwai itself. We were ready to pay, but he (victim) committed suicide. I am not saying it was directly due to the unavailability of benefits, but he knew it was not available and he was already under stress," a family member told the publication.
