Karnataka govt owes several lakhs to private hospitals for treating Covid-19 patients

Out of nearly 2.66 lakh Covid patients hospitalised under govt quota, bills of only 78,658 have been cleared so far

The second Covid-19 wave may be on the wane, but the government is yet to clear the dues of patients treated under its quota by private hospitals.

Many private hospitals have complained that the government owes them lakhs for treating its patients under the Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust, a separate body under the Health Department acting as the implementing agency for Ayushman Bharat-Arogya Karnataka.

In fact, out of nearly 2.66 lakh Covid-19 patients hospitalised in the city from last year under the government quota, bills of only 78,658 have been cleared so far, which amounts to Rs 310.99 crore.

This is a meagre 29.57% of the total patients treated under the SAST quota. Across the state, payments for 13,847 Covid-19 patients amounting to Rs 43.79 crore are in the pipeline.

In an email, SAST executive director N T Abroo said bills for 1,44,947 cases across the state amounting to Rs 466.55 crore have been paid.

SAST data misleading

Dr Prasanna H M, president, Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA), said that while 1.3 lakh patients were treated in the private sector under the government quota during the first Covid-19 wave, 2.5 lakh patients were billed in the second wave.

“The SAST data claims what they have paid for also includes government hospital patients,” Dr Prasanna pointed out. “They haven’t cleared even 50% of the bills generated in the first wave.”

Pristine Hospital in Rajajinagar, for example, said Rs 19 lakh generated in the first wave was still pending, while it received only Rs 3 lakh for the second wave. A Covid-19 patient requires seven days to recover at the hospital on an average, which would cost Rs 35,000 despite the government’s ceiling.

“Private hospitals treated more than 75,800 Covid patients during the first wave, 60,000 of whom came in the government quota,” Dr Prasanna said. “In the second wave, the number of hospitalisations has been more. We started receiving dues for the first wave only when the second wave began. Private hospitals received only 5% or 10% of the total bills submitted to the government.”

According to Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Jawaid Akhtar, only 200 bills per day could be cleared, Dr Prasanna said.

“Limitations in SAST software means the 201st bill gets blocked even if their HR processes it,” he said.

“This means only 6,000 payments can be cleared in a month. And this has happened at a time when we are clocking 3,000 cases a day,” Akhtar added.