Goa mediclaim scheme: State govt to notify within a week

Goa government today said the modified mediclaim scheme covering its population would be notified within a week.

State Health Minister Laxmikant Parsekar told the Legislative Assembly today that the ceiling of benefit under this scheme would be raised, compared to the earlier one.

A family of three members will be entitled to Rs 2.5 lakh claim, and that of more than three to Rs four lakh annually under this scheme, he said.

Independent legislator Naresh Sawal, raising the issue during the Question Hour, charged that the state government has been dragging its feet over the scheme.

The Manohar Parrikar government had after coming to power scrapped the earlier Congress-led government's 'Swarnajayanti Bima Yojna', while continuing with the old mediclaim scheme.

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, intervening in the discussion, claimed that the scheme notified by the Congress-led government had several lacunae, causing whopping losses to the state government.

"If we had not scrapped the scheme, the government would have been facing a loss of Rs 40 crore," he said.

Parsekar said the new scheme will also benefit the state-run medical institutions as they will get money from the insurance company depending on the number of patients treated by them.

Besides private hospitals, the scheme will also cover state-run Goa Medical College, and district and sub-district hospitals.