The cashless healthcare scheme for government employees, pensioners and their families, touted as Diwali gift and announced recently by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has become a non-starter.
Super-speciality hospitals in the State capital have thrown up their hands on the proposed scheme, which envisages providing top of the line medical care to families of four lakh Telangana government employees. All major super speciality hospitals are yet to sign MoU with the government on the scheme insisting that guidelines be framed afresh.
The TS government has apparently asked the super speciality hospitals to provide medical care to its employees based on the existing ‘Arogyasri’ rates. In addition, the government is insisting that the employees and their families be given free out-patient consultations and diagnostic services at these hospitals.
The members of Telangana Super Speciality Hospitals Association (TESHA) have met top health officials including the Health Secretary to voice their reservations on the guidelines to implement the healthcare scheme. The hospitals have sought CM’s intervention over the pricing and urged him to resolve the issue quickly.
The members of TESHA have maintained that for government employees, the tariffs should be at least 30 to 40 per cent more than the existing ‘Arogyasri’ tariffs. The super speciality hospitals have said that the government should provide them with the existing tariffs in Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) and Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS).
“The scheme is visionary in nature. We are ready to work with the government and provide services through our own CSR activities. But, there is also a need to provide high quality healthcare for which Hyderabad is famous for. We are confident the government will understand us,” said president, TESHA and MD, Sunshine Hospitals, Dr. A. V. Guruva Reddy.
Speciality hospitals claim that the current ‘Arogyasri’ rates are “not enough” to maintain the quality, which is important for accreditation with the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare (NABH). “Arogyasri is for Below Poverty Line (BPL) beneficiaries kept in general wards in private hospitals. There is a definite mismatch as government employees can’t be treated like BPL beneficiaries,” private hospital authorities maintained.
