West Bengal government’s Swasthya Sathi project! Useful or unhelpful

Various complaints are often heard about the Swasthya Sathi card of the West Bengal government. Many hospitals and nursing homes do not want to accept this government card. But why in the case of being denied access to health services under government schemes often comes up in the news? Public Complaints Nursing Homes, Hospitals Not Accepting Government Health Card As a result common people have to face problems. Hospitals, nursing home authorities counter-complained that they have to problem to get money for Swasthya Sathi card. After that, many times the money does not come.

Ohio Hospital and Medical Center is a private hospital in Newtown, Kolkata. Jayati Rakshit, chief physician of the cardiology department of Ohio Hospital, said that the state government has detailed various issues related to this, including the proper use of health partner cards.

Cardiologist Jayati Rakshit said, “Now it is seen that many patients who are coming from rural and urban areas are coming to us with a health care card. And it is a health card provided by the West Bengal state government. This health partner card is a very useful and valuable card. Because, the state government is providing various medical benefits with this health partner card. But we and our patients are not aware of the usage of this card. That’s why different complaints are heard at different times.”We need to know very well that in which case I can use this card and how I can use the health partner card properly,” said doctor Rakshit. He said, “As a heart specialist, I can say the biggest benefit of Swasthya Sathi card is that heart patients have a test called angiogram where there is any blockage in the chest. This test is fully paid for by the state government through Swasthya Sathi card. If the medical ‘stain’ is used, it is fully paid by the state government, the hospital does not charge a single rupee to the patients. If the patient has more than one block in the heart and requires bypass surgery, 90 percent coverage is provided to the hospital from the health card. But in this case some things should be kept in mind like angiogram or bypass surgery before some tests like electrocardiogram or some blood tests are taken only a small charge from the patient. After that, once the patient is admitted with the Swasthya Sathi card, most of the primary heart treatment is done through the health partner card and the patients will not face any financial difficulties except for the remaining tests. I have treated many patients through cardiology department head swasthya sathi card.” she said, “Getting this Swasthya Sathi card is quite time consuming. For example, after the patient arrives, initially the echo ECG is attached and sent to the health department along with the findings. The health department will understand that any test related to the patient is very important. Then an authorization comes from the health department. Only after that authorization we can do the surgery. A team is needed at the hospital to complete this task. In my hospital there are two nurses and a health department staff who keep an eye on this all the time. About three or four people completed this work together. There is a bit of hassle to use the health partner card. After that, the treatment of a heart patient will be completed free of cost. Only the patient has to arrive a little, ahead of time. After the authorization the surgery will actually start. Many hospitals do not want to accept this method as it is time consuming. But this procedure is accepted as per our hospital system. We provide this facility to every patient.

The Chief Medical Officer of the Cardiology Department of Ohio Hospital also told us, “It has been found that many health partner cards do not contain the patient’s name after sending the health partner card to the concerned department. Then in my hospital a staff member of the health department will ask the concerned patient’s family to go to the BDO office. And the hospital explained very well what to do when he went to the BDO office.After that, he said about the Ohio hospital, “When the patient’s family goes to the BDO office with a note or card written by me, all the problems related to the card are fixed in the video office within two to three hours and sent to our hospital.”

She said, “Apart from cardiology, we also get orthopedic surgery, gallbladder surgery. GYN surgery is not given in full, but we did not tell what is given and the rest is discussed with the patients and then only if they are willing to under go surgery, surgery is done. But all the heart disease surgeries are done within the health card.” Cardiologist Jayati Rakshit told us, “I have done about 200 to 300 more angiogram surgeries in this hospital for two years. I have never faced any problem till now. ”

He further told us, “Many times we hear complaints from hospitals that they are not getting their payments on time. What I can say from my experience of the last two years is that basically our payments are completed within three months. We have no problem not yet.