The Uttarakhand Government has decided to include treatment of the Covid-19 patients in its universal health insurance scheme, the Atal Ayushman Uttarakhand Yojana (AAUY).
Such patients who are golden card holders of AAUY can now avail cashless payment facility in the panelled hospitals under the scheme. For persons not covered under the scheme, the hospitals have been asked to charge a minimum fee for treatment of Covid-19.
The chairman of the State Health Agency (SHA) which is the nodal body for implementation and monitoring of the ambitious scheme, D K Kotia said that hospitals would be provided payment on the rates decided for treatment of flu and respiratory diseases.
He said that soon SHA would issue a directive to the panelled hospitals for treatment of Covid-19. It is pertinent to mention here that SHA has so far approved 3665812 golden cards for beneficiaries of the scheme. The agency has settled 156800 claims since the inception of the scheme under which a sum of more than Rs 142 Crore has so far been paid to the panelled hospitals.
Under the scheme the beneficiary can undergo treatment at any of 156 empanelled hospitals and a total of 1350 diseases are covered under the scheme.