Cost of COVID-19 treatment to be reimbursed for state government employees and families

The state government of Maharashtra, in a recent decision, announced that the government employees and their families will now be reimbursed for the cost of treatment at a private hospital. The decision was taken by the officials after thorough discussions. State Health Minister Rajesh Tope shared the same on Twitter and stated it is said that the order will be applicable from September 2, 2020.

शासकीय कर्मचारी व त्यांचे कुटुंबीय यांनी आकस्मित तसेच गंभीर आजारावर खाजगी रुग्णालयात उपचार घेतल्यास त्यांच्यावर होणाऱ्या खर्चाची प्रतिपूर्ती देण्यात येते.सदर वैद्यकीय खर्च प्रतिपूर्तीमध्ये कोविड-19 या आजाराचा अंतर्भाव करण्याचा महत्त्वपूर्ण निर्णय राज्यशासनाने घेतला आहे.

— Rajesh Tope (@rajeshtope11) December 17, 2020

His message on Twitter stated that that government employees and their families would be reimbursed for their expenses if they were treated in a private hospital for sudden and serious illnesses. The state government has taken an important decision to include coronavirus treatment in the reimbursement of medical expenses.

In the government decision announced by the state government in March 2005, a total of 27 emergency and five serious illnesses were included. Though the list included heart and lung-related diseases, the medical cost of coronavirus treatment was added in recent times.

Coronavirus cases in the state have been increasing after Diwali and officials are working hard towards containing the spread of the virus. Moreover, government officials from several departments are also exposed to the risk of infection, since their office duties have resumed, due to which they have to travel on a regular basis. 

Tope also took to Twitter to share that the officials, on December 17, 2020, identified new 3,880 patients who tested as positive for COVID-19. Furthermore, 4,358 patients were cured and discharged taking the total tally to 17,74,255 patients. Maharashtra currently has a total of 60,905 active patients and the recovery rate in the state stands at 94.14 per cent. The case fatality rate is the state is 2.57 per cent.

Meanwhile, a total of 1,19,33,956 laboratory samples have been tested, out of which 18,84,773 have been tested positive (15.79 per cent). More than 5-lakh patients in the state are under home quarantine and over 4,000 are under institutional quarantine.