'Private hospitals told to refund excess money collected under Ayushman Bharat'

Dakshina Kannada District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Ramachandra Bairy said a district-level grievance committee, headed by Deputy Commissioner Dr Rajendra K V, has taken measures to get private hospitals reimburse the excess amount collected from patients under the Ayushman Bharat Arogya Karnataka scheme (AB-ArK).

“The DC has already disposed of 12 cases by directing hospitals to reimburse the excess amount to the patients on Monday,” DHO Dr Bairy said at DK Zilla Panchayat (DKZP) monthly meeting organised at Nethravathi Hall on the premises of the ZP on Tuesday.

ZP members alleged that the private hospitals had been looting patients in the name of the Ayushman Bharat scheme. The DHO said if the private hospitals had collected money in excess from patients under the AB-ArK scheme, then a complaint should be submitted to the grievance committee headed by the DC.

The members also urged Zilla Panchayat president Meenakshi Shanthigodu to bring the issue of private hospitals collecting money in excess from patients to the notice of Health Minister Dr Sudhakar, who will be visiting the district on Wednesday.

Vaccination drive

When the members sought to know about the vaccination drive, the DHO said that vaccinations are administered at all PHCs, taluk hospitals, Urban Health Centres and district hospitals for free. With the government announcing that citizens above the age of 45, irrespective of co-morbidities, will be eligible for Covid-19 vaccination, about 26.05% of the population in the district will be eligible for the vaccination.

He appealed to the ZP members to motivate people to get vaccinated in the nearest PHC. People should not heed to rumours that are being spread on social media platforms against the Covid-19 vaccines, he said.

The government is also mulling on administering vaccinations in all the sub-centres. As the sub-centres have no doctors, the government is planning to depute junior PG doctors at the centres, he added.

The DHO further clarified that there is no shortage of vaccines in the district.

When the members raised the issue of upgradation of the PHCs to Community Health Centres, the DHO said that proposals to upgrade 9 PHCs, including those at Mani and Panaje, was sent to the government for approval.

ZP member Janardhan Gowda suspected foul play in the death of Anitha Madhava, a resident of Mucchur. The DHO said that experts had found no medical negligence in her death. As the member was not satisfied with the answer, ZP Chief Executive Officer Dr Kumar said that the case will be re-investigated by the experts.