‘A few days ago, a case of Dolly Mandal, a woman living in street number 7 of Tirkha Colony, Ballabhgarh, came to light. Dolly Mandal was suffering from ameloblastoma. This is a rare but locally spreading tumor of the jaw which destroys the bone. If it is not treated immediately, it can lead to infection and deterioration of facial appearance. With the help of his Ayushman card, he approached Delhi AIIMS for jaw reconstruction surgery. Doctors recommended Extended Total Temporomandibular Joint Replacement to remove and reconstruct the diseased part of his jaw and it was declared medically urgent. The doctors also warned that the condition could deteriorate rapidly due to delay.

‘Dolly was not able to undergo treatment and operation due to the cost of this procedure which was around Rs 2.5 lakh including implants. Due to the delay, she was having a lot of pain and was not able to eat solid food, but despite having the card, due to a lot of paperwork, not only was the treatment getting delayed but the patient was also facing a lot of problems. During this time, the woman sought help from Kailash Sharma, State General Secretary of Haryana Parent Ekta Manch. Kailash Sharma appealed to the National Advisor of the Forum and Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court, Ashok Aggarwal, to take appropriate action to get the victim woman treated and operated quickly and free of cost at AIIMS, New Delhi.

Then Advocate Ashok Aggarwal On the other hand, the woman’s paperwork started in Haryana. During this, AIIMS also told about the compulsion for treatment after receiving the necessary documents as per the rules. However, the woman was treated in AIIMS itself and she completely recovered.

Regarding this, Advocate Ashok said while talking to News18 Hindi that legally the treatment of patients cannot be delayed due to paperwork and administrative process. The High Court has already made it clear that there should not be any delay in medical care under any circumstances, but many such patients come to them, who suffer a lot by making rounds of hospitals for necessary documents and paperwork.

In this case too, the treatment the woman was to undergo required approval from the health department of the state government, which was taking a lot of time. Hospitals proceed for cashless treatment only when the process of getting the treatment money under the schemes is completed. Before that the patient does not get treatment. The situation becomes even worse in private hospitals. Not only Ayushman, but also under many schemes like CGHS, private hospitals sometimes refuse to admit the patient, many such cases come to light. Whereas many patients do not get treatment at all.

Advocate Ashok further says that under the Prime Minister’s ambitious scheme Ayushman Bharat Health Scheme, Ayushman card of the needy and poor is not made and even if it is made, Ayushman card holders are not able to get proper treatment when needed. Private hospitals directly refuse to treat Ayushman card holders, but it has been seen many times that even in government hospitals, Ayushman card holders are not treated properly, the treatment of the patient is delayed due to many paperwork and due to this the patient even loses his life, which should not happen. For this, it is necessary that in case of serious patients, there should be arrangements to start the treatment process even before the paperwork.