Patients suffer as pvt hospitals continue to refuse treatment under govt schemes

 Private hospitals continue to turn down patients under public healthcare schemes, saying they have not received a “satisfactory” response from the state government on when their dues will be paid.

Patients seeking to undergo elective surgeries under Vajpayee Arogyashree, Rajiv Arogya Bhagya and Jyothi Sanjeevini healthcare schemes are suffering.

Private hospitals have put up notices at their registration counters, stating that they will not serve the patients as the government has failed to clear their dues.

It’s more than four days since the Federation of Healthcare Associations (FHS), a consortium of private hospitals, met the Minister for Health and Family Welfare, K R Ramesh Kumar, and made representations about non-payment of dues under the government’s health schemes. The hospitals say their concerns have not been addressed as yet.

Dr B S Ajai Kumar, member of the FHS’s advisory board, said that though the minister gave them an oral assurance on payment of dues, there had been no written communication. “We want a long-term solution to this issue. Our concerns have not been resolved for several years now. We have decided not to serve patients until a committee of private and government doctors is formed to address the issue. We want a written assurance on when the dues would be cleared,” he added.

Dr Kumar suggested that the problem cropped up because many “well-off” people availed themselves of treatment under a healthcare scheme meant for below-poverty line (BPL) families. Hospitals also want an increase in healthcare service charges, saying these were last revised eight years ago.