CARD SHARPS
by Siddhartha Mishra in Jaipur
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 unconscious — 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 )
Scalpels In Air And Other Long Stays
A cashless healthcare scheme for the poor in Rajasthan is unconscionably milked by private hospitals
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 .
Then began the long , tortuous twist in the tale — joining Yashoda ’ s case to numerous others of seeming and clearer
fraud in Jaipur and Alwar districts — all involving the BSBY scheme and how hospitals extract the maximum out of it . Sources gave Outlook details of nearly 100 such instances from across Raja s than that we haven ’ t been able to independently verify yet .
How does it play out ? Witness Yashoda ’ s case . For 33 days , she was mostly in Apex ’ s Neuro ICU . According to receipts seen by Outlook , the BSBY card was charged Rs 8,000 everyday — a total bill of Rs 2,64,000 . The card allows for annual treatment of Rs 3 lakh for serious or tertiary illnesses ; there was Rs 36,000 left in the account on February 17 , when Yashoda
16 OUTLOOK 11 June 2018