PIL seeks cashless facility in Surat for insured Covid patients

Ahmedabad: A PIL in the Gujarat high court has sought directions to the authority and insurance companies that they should offer cashless facility for Covid-19 patients in Surat even as the city has emerged as new hotspot in the pandemic.

The Surat Citizens’ Council Trust has expressed concerns about the difficulties being faced by Covid patients in making payment to private hospitals at the time of admission. The relatives are asked to pay considerable amount.

The petitioner trust has sought HC direction to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Agency, insurance companies as well as private hospitals “to honour cashless mediclaim policies” to the extent of the limit of the cashless policies.

Petitioner’s advocate Amit Thakker cited various news reports saying that private hospitals insist that the patients should ask for re-imbursement instead of providing them the cashless facility, which all stake holders are bound to extend to a policy holder.

The petitioner has also urged the HC to direct the hospitals to treat patients under Maa and Ayushman Bharat Yojna, if Covid patients are eligible for the same and not to ask them to make any payment initially.

As the condition in Surat and south Gujarat worsened in last one month, the PIL has urged the HC to issue directions to concerned authorities to streamline the ongoing Covid treatment.

Source: The Times of India