Port Blair, April 26: The Member of Parliament, Shri. Kuldeep Rai Sharma has requested the Hon’ble Lt. Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands to assign staffs from DRC Chennai and DRC Kolkata to attend patients from Andaman & Nicobar Islands in Mainland Hospital, so that patients can get benefit and right treatment, under the Government of India’s flagship programme, Ayushman Bharat.  “If necessary some more staffs may be posted to DRC Chennai and DRC Kolkata to handle these cases,” he added.

In a letter addressed to the Hon’ble Lt. Governor the Member of Parliament mentioned that a large number of patients have been sent to different hospitals in Mainland India for specialized treatment under Ayushman Bharat Scheme from Andaman & Nicobar Islands but a lot of patients among them have informed him that due to various issues, they are facing extreme difficulties in getting treatment in mainland hospitals.

He added that as per the grievances put forward by patients, Islanders referred to Mainland India under Ayushman Bharat scheme from Andaman & Nicobar Islands face the following problem:

1) Language Problem: Patients from Andaman & Nicobar Islands are mostly transferred to either Kolkata or Chennai and often islanders from remote Islands fail to communicate in Tamil, Bengali or English, which leads to confusions.

2) Delay in Admission: It is often seen that in some cases patients referred to Mainland India under Ayushman Bharat scheme from Andaman & Nicobar Islands are admitted very late in Mainland Hospital, putting additional burden on them for lodging and boarding in Mainland India.

3) Failing to meet the right doctors: Often patients could not meet the right doctors or convey their problems properly due to various reasons, which results in confusion.

4) Documentation Issues: Many patients from remote islands are not very acquainted with official documentation works in English and filling forms.