The new draft guidelines issued by IRDAI proposes a minimum sum assured of Rs 50,000 and a maximum of Rs 5 lakh. A General Insurance Council official said the guidelines were still being worked on and would only be finalised next week.
All costs relating to room, boarding, nursing expenses, medical consultation including telemedicine, consumables such as PPE kits and intensive care unit will be covered under the policy. It will also include the cost of treatment for any other co-morbidities, including pre-existing comorbid conditions along with the treatment for Covid-19.
Only half India's population has received the first shot of Covishield and Covaxin and the government's immediate task is to first vaccinate its adult population before placing its focus on children.
Amid oxygen shortage and a faltering health system in the country, India is seeing over 300,000 cases daily.
The Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (Irdai), the regulator for insurance companies, is set to allow the insurers to offer wellness programmes along with life insurance policies that can earn reward points for the policyholders. These reward points can be redeemed for getting a discount during renewal. The insurance regulator has circulated draft guidelines to insurance companies for feedback before issuing the final guidelines, as is the norm.
Several private hospitals across the country said they have no clarity on procuring COVID-19 vaccines under the new policy announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that it has led to the vaccination being put on hold at their centres.
After recognising its adverse health effects, the govt has now dismissed its own lab reports to conclude that the evidence against plastic is insufficient.
'Once the lockdown is lifted, we will need the mother of all fiscal and monetary policy support to sustain the economy,' advises Akash Prakash.
An expert panel of India's Central Drug Authority on Tuesday recommended granting permission to Serum Institute of India (SII) for conducting phase 2/3 trials of Covid vaccine Covovax on children aged 2 to 17 years with certain conditions, official sources said.
'Ideally, the efficacy data of all the trials should be there in the public domain, and as soon as possible.' 'It is difficult to understand the reason behind the authorisation.'
Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna's announcement comes just a week after Pfizer and Biontech said their COVID-19 vaccine candidate was found to be more than 90 per cent effective in preventing COVID-19 in participants.
Cost of the diagnostic test for Covid-19 has been fixed at Rs 4,500 per test by the government. Hospitals, however, do not think this is feasible.
The government is considering setting up air freight stations to enable direct movement of vaccines from pharmaceutical factories to the aircraft.
'Well begun is half done, today there are more hits than misses by the Modi government in its support towards science in India,' says Pallava Bagla.
However, in two different dose regimens, the vaccine's efficacy was 90 per cent in one and 62 per cent in the other.
Recent statistics show that the situation is no different across the country with several hospitals lacking the infrastructure to manage a breakout of a blaze.
Home healthcare remains a niche segment in India even today. Nightingale provides services, starting from family physicians, short- and long-term nursing care, post-hospitalisation care and physiotherapy to stroke rehabilitation, respiratory care, bedside caregivers and attendants, intensive care at home, lab tests and speech therapy.
The ministry further stated that it was advisable to receive a complete schedule of the anti-coronavirus vaccine irrespective of past history of infection with COVID-19 as this will help in developing a strong immune response against the disease.
Ramdev's herbal medicine company Patanjali Ayurved has launched 'Coronil tablet and Swasari vati' medicines claiming they can cure the highly contagious disease within seven days.
In September, Bharat Biotech aimed to supply 35 million doses, and take this up to 55 million by October. This is still less than what the Indian government expects from the company.
A blanket ban may be imposed soon on NRIs, PIOs and foreigners having children through surrogacy in India with the Union health ministry and the National Commission for Women proposing it as part of a new legislation.
Though COVID-19 will wreak more damage to the finances of the Indian population, the insurance sector is unlikely to get hurt.
The revival initiative allows RLIC policyholders to renew their lapsed policies by simply paying their due premium -- without any penalty or medical tests.
Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Balram Bhargava said the purpose of the COVID vaccine drive would be to break the chain of viral transmission.
Most customers still don't understand this concept and are unable to benefit from it.
T N Seshan believed that toughness at every level is needed to keep the flock under him strictly duty bound, recalls Dr K S Parthasarathy, former secretary, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.
Mobile tower radiation reaching us is more than a thousand times weaker than that from the handsets we use and the Indian standards are 10 times more stringent than the global norms recommended by the World Health Organisation, points out T V Ramachandran.
While buying health policies, customers should reveal any pre-existing diseases. This is the only way to ensure that the insurer does not reject claims.
By April, operational guidelines for the scheme will be finalised and shared with states
Since no insurance companies share data on their claims with each other, the finance ministry and Irdai suspect that a lot of the resultant claims are duplicates.
The manifesto, on the lines of the party's promise in Delhi in 2015, also says the AAP government will set up Aam Aadmi canteens at sub-division and district levels where one time meal will be available for Rs 5, and reduce the power tariff to half for usages up to 400 unit.
There is discrimination against women in insurance cover. As a flood of insurance companies tap the capital markets with public issues, there is however, hardly any reference to this asymmetry. Subhomoy Bhattacharjee reports
While that may be easy, what is not easy is to buy the policy that is right for you
The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to place on record all relevant documents and file notings reflecting its thinking culminating in the COVID-19 vaccination policy, and the purchase history till date of all jabs including Covaxin, Covishield and Sputnik V.
'This health emergency has brought a lot of people together with the common purpose of getting Feluda to play detective as quickly as possible.' 'As a scientist, if we can make a small difference in people's lives, we are happy'
'The biggest gainers under this scheme would be insurance companies.' 'If the government is going to route the payments through the insurance companies, these companies will be making nearly 30 per cent of the money.' 'For instance, if the government is paying Rs 100, then Rs 30 will go to these insurance companies.' 'Only Rs 70 will be available for expenditure that will be incurred by the hospitals.'
It could also ease the burden on the 225 million women in developing countries, says Ari Altstedter.
'A balanced head plus heart approach would be a full opening up of the economy including manufacturing and internal travel in the country but excluding COVID-19 hotspots,' recommends Jaimini Bhagwati.
Tax-saving investments should not be made with the sole purpose of saving tax, but should also help an individual grow his wealth, suggests Archit Gupta, founder and CEO, ClearTax.
Individuals often postpone tax planning till the end of the financial year. As the deadline for showing proof of investments draws near, they invest randomly in any product that will help them save tax for that year. Later, they realise that it is not suited for them, so they abandon it. Tax planning should not be a standalone, one-off activity, but should be in sync with your overall financial plan, says Sanjay Kumar Singh.
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