Gurgaon: IMA’s Haryana unit announced on Sunday that 600 private hospitals across the state will stop treating patients who rely on Centre’s Ayushman Bharat scheme from Feb 3 as the govt is yet to clear reimbursements worth Rs 400 crore.
Around 1,300 hospitals in Haryana are empaneled with Ayushman Bharat, and 600 of them are private facilities.
Around 1.2 crore people in the state are registered under the scheme, which was introduced by the Narendra Modi-led govt in 2018 to provide free healthcare up to Rs 5 lakh per family in a year. The scheme, which covers anything between routine tests to surgeries, can be availed by families with annual incomes of less than Rs 2.5 lakh, and the elderly, among other criteria.
The association told TOI that it took the decision to call off services provided under Ayushman Bharat because hospitals were unable to manage their expenses due to delayed payments by the state govt in months.
“It has become impossible to run our hospitals without the necessary funds. The speed of reimbursements is sluggish, and new bills keep accumulating. Our payments should be released immediately,” a doctor from one of the empaneled hospitals in Gurgaon said on Sunday.
Dr Mahavir Jain, president of IMA (Haryana), said reimbursements to private hospitals had been pending for months.
“Our payments should be released immediately as it is exceedingly difficult for doctors to operate hospitals without funds. Around Rs 400 crore is pending. These medical bills are already discounted by the hospitals. How will they survive if they do not receive the bare minimum,” Dr Jain said.
IMA officials said every empaneled private hospital in Haryana had received just 10-15per cent of the reimbursement bills raised with the govt.
Typically, every hospital raises a request for reimbursement after treating a patient covered under the scheme. The request is made on an online portal and is supposed to be cleared by the state govt, which then reimburses the hospitals.
Association members said the matter was raised with chief minister Nayab Singh Saini at a meeting earlier this month and he had ordered immediate release of funds, but hospitals received a fraction of the pending dues.
“It is most unfortunate that even after 15 days, our members have not received any significant amount, and the amounts received have substantial unwarranted deductions,” said Dhirendar K Soni, secretary of IMA-Haryana.
Asked about the announcement, joint CEO of Ayushman Bharat (Haryana) Ankita Adhikari told TOI it was “not informed” about suspension of services.
“We have already initiated the fund release. We are optimistic that within a week, the issue will be resolved and there will be no requirement for such a drastic step,” she said.
In Gurgaon, 60 hospitals are empaneled under the scheme, including Park Hospital, Centre For Sight (Gurgaon), Pushpanjali hospital, Muskaan Dentals, Kamla Hospital and others.
“We will support IMA and shut down the services from Feb 3. We get around one to two new patients under Ayushman Bharat daily in our hospital. We conduct eye surgeries, which will not be conducted if we suspend the services,” said Dr Jyoti Yadav of Kamla Hospital.
