Elderly woman dies in hospital, suspension of health insurance scheme blamed

But Kamla’s daughter Mamta filed an FIR in a Dehradun police station on Saturday, alleging “negligence” by the hospital.

The scheme was launched by the former Congress government in April 2016 and it provided cover of upto Rs 1.75 lakh to beneficiaries. The Congress has been crying “vendetta” due to the “sudden suspension of the scheme”, which, according to Congress leader Suryakant Dhasmana, has “affected at least three lakh “poor” people across the state. Dhasmana said: “The hospital authorities have been saying that she (Kamla) was shifted to the general ward because she wasn’t critical. If she wasn’t critical then how come she died within a day of being shifted out of the ICU. It is clear that she was shifted out because she was no more a beneficiary of the health insurance scheme.”

Dehradun chief medical officer Y. S. Thapliyal said, “Once we receive a copy of the FIR, we’ll set up a search committee to study the cause of her death and whether the (concerned private) hospital was responsible for it.” He confirmed that Kamla was shifted to the general ward a day after the suspension of the scheme.

State secretary (health) Pankaj Pandey said: “The private company which was providing the health insurance under MSBY suddenly withdrew its services. It was already working on a three-month extension (after ending of the one-year contract). We will issue a fresh bid in the coming week and the services are expected to restart within three weeks.”