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Huge Hospital Bills Make Indian People Rely on Crowdfunding


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             Huge Hospital Bills Make Indian People Rely on Crowdfunding
 

Ezra Sihite, BBC Indonesia
Wed, 28 July 2021 12.32 PM

 

The number of people being treated in hospital immediately jumped amid the second wave of Covid-19 transmission in India. Because many are not covered by insurance, residents rely on social media to get donations from the community through crowdfunding, said journalist Astha Rajvanshi.

Supraja Reddy Yeruva has been unable to breathe normally for days after giving birth to her second child last June. The 27-year-old woman began showing symptoms of Covid-19 during her pregnancy, shortly after visiting the hospital for a routine check-up.

He immediately developed a severe lung infection and was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a private hospital in Hyderabad City.

He is still being treated there after a month.

Her husband, Vijaya Yeruva, along with their 6-year-old daughter and newborn son now hopeful for her recovery.

Yeruva is also struggling to pay bills from the hospital for his wife's treatment which is already 6 million rupees (Rp 1.1 billion more) and the bills continue to grow.

He already uses health insurance claims, in addition to using credit cards and borrowing from banks. When there was no alternative, the 35-year-old turned to Ketto, a fundraising platform, and sent requests for donations from the public online.

Working as a technician with a modest income, which is around $1,076 (Rp15.6 million) per year, Yeruva admits that she never imagined that she would have to expect donations from others.

"I've worked hard to support my family and have never asked for help," he said. "Even now I'm still embarrassed to tell other people about this donation request"

Yeruva's story is also experienced by thousands of families in India who are facing severe shocks due to the second wave of Covid infections, namely in the form of huge hospital bills.

Many are already expecting online crowdfunding to pay for hospital bills - and is rapidly emerging as an alternative to health insurance and government aid.

Experts reveal that three of the largest crowdfunding sites - Ketto, Milaap and Give India - have so far raised around $1.6 billion in donations from 2.7 million donors.

Ketto, which Yeruva uses to raise funds, said donations quadrupled during two waves of contagion, raising more than $40 million for the 12,000 COVID-19 relief fund.

"In many cases, crowdfunding has become an alternative safety net to fill gaps in the healthcare system," said Ravina Banze and Irfan Bashir, who wrote the book Crowdfunding: The Story of People.

Even before the pandemic, the greatest need for crowdfunding manifested itself in the lives of millions of sick people in India.

Self-financing health care bills drove 38 million people into poverty in 2011-2012, according to a 2018 study by the British Medical Journal and the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI).

There is no data yet on how many people are experiencing financial difficulties due to high bills for medical care during the pandemic.

But preliminary studies by the Duke Global Health Institute and PHFI estimate two-thirds of the self-employed and half of the salaried workers in India cannot afford medical care bills.
The burden is greatest on the poor in India, a group whose number last year increased by 230 million, according to a research team at Azim Premji University. More than 90 percent borrowed an average of $201 (Rp 2.9 million more) to pay off debt.

Public spending on health services in India is only about 1.2 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - among the lowest in the world, with about two-thirds of Indians without health insurance.

"Facing an unforeseen medical emergency situation is a disaster as most of the citizens always live under the threat of financial uncertainty," Bashir said.

In 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised free coverage for India's half a billion poor people by launching "Modicare," the world's largest health insurance scheme.

However, an analysis from Proxima Consulting found that only 13 percent of the poor enrolled in the scheme were able to claim insurance while being treated in public and private hospitals for Covid treatment.

The scheme does not cover outpatient costs, which dominate the cost of treatment.

In Nagpur City, Chinmayi Hiwase toured hospitals for three days to receive oxygen cylinders and treatment for his 57-year-old father, Rajesh Hiwase.

He thought his fight against Covid was over.

However, the results of the MRI scan showed his father had an auto-immune disorder and mucor

 

link  :  https://id.yahoo.com/berita/besarnya-tagihan-rs-bikin-rakyat-053248014.html

 

 

 

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