Cancer patient dies by suicide after being declined Ayushman Bharat scheme benefit
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New Delhi: A 72-year-old man in Bengaluru, who was diagnosed with cancer, died by suicide after a hospital declined to provide him with Rs 5 lakh cover under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY), The Times of India reported.
The retired state government employee died 15 days after he was diagnosed with gastric cancer.
A family member of the deceased man reportedly said that despite he had an AB PM-JAY senior citizen card offering him Rs 5 lakh annual cover, ‘the Kidwai Memorial Institute Of Oncology (KMIO) denied the benefit, saying that the state govt orders had not arrived yet. However, it extended us a 50% discount.’
Meanwhile, the hospital’s director in-charge Dr Ravi Arjunan said that the insurance scheme for citizen was yet to be implemented as the orders for which are still being awaited.
However, the family member told the outlet that the family spent Rs 20,000 for test and scans and the treatment included a major surgery and chemo.
‘ We planned on starting two rounds of chemo at Kidwai itself. We were ready to pay, but then we lost him to suicide in just two days. I am not saying it was directly due to unavailability of the benefit, but he knew it did not come through and was already stressed,’ the family member was quoted as saying.
The standoff between the state and Cetnre over the funding of the Ayushman Bharat senior citizen’s scheme has landed several senior citizens in trouble.
Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said that Centre’s share in the scheme is 25 per cent while the state has to bear 75 per cent, which according to Rao is ‘a burden on the state’.