By IANS,
New Delhi : Soon, people will need to avail treatment only at accredited hospitals if they want to claim medical insurance benefits, if the Quality Council of India (QCI) has its way.
QCI secretary general Gridhar J. Gyani Wednesday said the council will ask the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) to permit only accredited hospitals for providing medical facilities to people covered under medical insurance schemes.
“The council in the next two days is going to officially forward a detailed proposal to IRDA, making it mandatory for all insurance companies that medical reimbursement benefits be extended to all patients that have taken treatment from accredited hospitals,” Gyani said.
“We hope that in next 18-20 months time, the IRDA would be able to formalise new guidelines to this effect,” he said at a conference on health insurance organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).
Currently, only 19 hospitals have been granted accreditation by the Quality Council and nearly 55 are in the pipeline.
Renowned cardiologist and Global Health Pvt. Ltd. chairman Naresh Trehan lamented that health insurance had not picked up in India in the past couple of years. Less than eight percent of Indians have health insurance.