No plans to increase renewal period of health cards: Govt

Panaji: The government has said it has no plans to permit auto-renewal of Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana (DDSSY) cards, following suggestions that they be auto-renewed for at least five years straight to avoid inconveniencing citizens. Presently, membership of the government’s flagship health insurance scheme is subject to an annual renewal schedule.

A health department official confirmed that auto-renewal is not under consideration at the moment. All DDSSY cards have currently been auto-renewed only for one year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Annual registration and renewal charges for insurance cover are Rs 200 for a family of three or less, and Rs 300 for a family of four or more. A 50% concession is available for OBCs and the non-creamy layer subject to submission of relevant documents.

The official, however, agreed that renewing DDSSY cards every three to five years would be ideal as an annual renewal schedule only inconveniences citizens and increases costs to the government.

The DDSSY scheme was introduced in 2016-17 and the state has collected Rs 28.3 crore towards registration and annual renewals since then. Over the past three years, an average of over Rs 5 crore was collected annually towards renewal fees. But the official said such a yearly collection is negligible when costs to the government are considered and reiterated that it would be prudent to have the cards renewed every three to five years instead.

Citizens had to face several problems during the first two years of the scheme being introduced, as it meant standing in a queue for hours to get their cards renewed, among other issues. “We had received a lot of complaints and renewal counters had few staff, too,” the health official said. “Most of the problems were resolved after we took up the matter with Goa Electronics Ltd.”