Mumbai: Even when Covid’s inpatient has fallen from the peak level, insurance companies witness a massive surge in non-covid claims.
While there is delay in capturing trends, insurance companies say that there has been a significant leap from September in non-covid hospitalization.
“We see an increase in hospitalization because of dengue fever, respiratory disease and other non-covid claims.
The size of this claim also rises, perhaps because of the additional protection that must be taken by the hospital.
We will watch this to see whether the increase is temporal or structural,” said ICICI General Lombard insurance MD & CEO of Bhargav Dasgupta, following the company’s results.
Polisbaar, one of the largest distributors of individual health blankets, has seen an increase in the number of non-covid calls.
His call is for infectious diseases, dengue fever and other viral.
“We also saw an increase in unintentional injuries,” said Amit Chabra, Head of Health Business in Polisbaar.
According to Dr.
Dev Pahlajani, the Head of the Cardiology Intervention at the Permen Breach Hospital in Mumbai, the incidence of acute coronary syndrome, sudden heart attack and heart stops rose 40% in the past six to eight months.
“There is a surge in circulatory conditions that guarantee close evaluation,” he said.
He added that even a patient who had been stable for years came with an acute heart emergency.
The trend was seen in most of the heart department, he said.
According to Director of Health Insurance Niva Bupa (guarantee of Emissions, Products & Claims) Bhabatosh Mishra, Covid lowered his health claims last year because people were locked, avoiding hospitalization and delaying elective operations.
“There are no major changes in the number of emergency procedures such as appendicitis, but cases such as gallbladder surgery, which can be postponed, up,” said Mishra.
He added that remembering a higher monsoon than usual in places, there has been a surge in dengue including Bengaluru and Hyderabad, besides Mumbai and Delhi.
“People lose their jobs, their sources of income and may sit quietly at home for months.
The factors combined with lack of exercise can accumulate stress levels, put them at risk of heart condition,” said Dr.
Pahlajani.
He added that people have lost routine examinations at the level of sugar and blood pressure due to a pandemic.
Covid victims may also see symptoms of inflammation after months.
In Mumbai, the hospital bed was largely occupied by cases of dengue fever, malaria and chikungunya and not Covid at this time, said Dr.
Gautam Bhansali from Bombay Hospital.
Mishra expects cases to continue to increase because the rainy season is not over.
Also, many elective operations are usually scheduled for winter such as, remembering Indian weather, better curing surgical wounds and lower risk of monsoon infection.