Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane today said that he would meet Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to discuss the issue of fees being charged from non-Goan patients availing medical treatment at state-run hospitals.
The Maharashtra government had recently written to the Goa government to waive this fee for patients arriving from Maharashtra for treatment at the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) and other hospitals.
Rane maintained that the recent decision to charge patients coming from outside the state would continue, adding that he would be in Mumbai tomorrow to meet Fadnavis to seek an amicable solution.
"I have asked for an appointment with Maharashtra CM Fadnavis. I will suggest that GMCH or north Goa district hospital be empanelled under the medical insurance scheme of Maharashtra. By tomorrow we should be able to resolve the issue," Rane said.
Fees for foreigners availing treatment in state-run hospitals would be hiked in the near future, Rane informed,
"I want to charge foreigners more as they can afford to pay. When we travel to Germany or Australia, no one gives us free medical treatment. Goa is a tourist state but that doesn't mean we can provide it for free," Rane said.
He informed that the state government was planning to increase fees for foreigners from the current 20 per cent of the rates that the government pays as part of the Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana to 50 per cent for "A" level hospitals.
The DDSSY is a state-run medical insurance scheme under which people of Goa are provided free medical treatment at government and private hospitals.
Speaking about the differences that have cropped up between Goa and Maharashtra on the issue of medical fees for non-Goan patients, Rane said that some people "working with political motivation" want the issue to "flare up".
He added that poor people would not be hurt by this move as the medical superintendent of the GMCH has the power to exempt the fees of those who are poor and are unable to pay.
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