Hospitals won’t admit BPL patients from Monday

Patients wanting to avail treatment under other schemes for APL patients and state government employees too won’t be able to do so.

BENGALURU: Come Monday, BPL cardholders who want to avail treatment under Vajpayee Arogyashree government medical insurance scheme won’t be able to, as the stalemate between Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust (SAST) and private hospitals continues. Patients wanting to avail treatment under other schemes for APL patients and state government employees too won’t be able to do so.

After the initial release of Rs 34.25 crore (Rs 28.14 crore to private and Rs 6.11 crore to government hospitals), the government still owes Rs 86.71 crore to hospitals (Rs 60.64 crore to private and Rs 26.07 crore to government facilities).

Representatives of the Federation of Healthcare Associations (FHA), a consortium of hospital associations, are due to meet Health Minister K R Ramesh Kumar at 11:30 am on Monday over non-payment of dues.

On being asked if a BPL cardholder can avail treatment under Vajpayee Arogyashree on Monday morning, Dr Madan S Gaekwad, senior executive vice-president of Sagar Hospitals, and president, Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA), which is part of FHA, said ‘no’.

“We have been called for a meeting. We have also given a call that from Monday we won’t be admitting new patients under the schemes. We did not know the department needs time till March to make full payment. In that case, a collective decision has to be made by the associations. As of now, from Monday onwards, we won’t be admitting new patients under the scheme,” he said.

Health Minister Ramesh Kumar said, “We are not denying that we owe the hospitals. Regarding them not admitting patients, we have to talk it out.”

Dr Chandrashekhar G R, chairman, Cauvery Hospital, Mysuru, said, “As of Monday, we will not be admitting any new patients under Vajpayee or other schemes. We are waiting for the association to decide.”

Dr V Narendranath, chief administrator, M S Ramaiah Hospital, said the government owes around Rs 2.5 crore to Rs 3 crore to his hospital and that they won’t be admitting any patients from Monday.

Dr R Ravindra, head of Suguna Hospital, said they had stopped treating patients under Vajpayee Arogyashree Scheme from last April itself. “As per our records, they owe us Rs 5 lakh and according to them, they owe us nothing. We weren’t happy with the way this scheme was handled, so we stopped treating patients altogether.”

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