RANCHI: More than 550 empanelled private nursing homes/hospitals in Jharkhand have threatened to stop treatment of patients under the Ayushman Bharat Health Scheme due to long-pending bills by the health department. According to hospital owners, they are not able to pay salaries to their staff and purchase consumables due to lack of funds as over Rs 100 crore is due from the state government.
Noting that more than 3 lakh patients are treated in private hospitals every year under the scheme, President of the Ranchi chapter of the Indian Medical Association Dr Shambhu Prasad Singh said, "This is an ultimatum to the state government that if they fail to pay the long pending dues of private hospitals, they will have no option but to stop treatment of patients coming to them under Ayushman Bharat Health Scheme. Most of the hospitals operating in Jharkhand have not been paid a single penny since September last year, while in some cases, only partial payment has been done." He also demanded regularisation of the payments like earlier when it was done within a fortnight of the approval given for it, he added. Singh further added that if their demands are not met, they will take a final decision on April 23.
According to Singh, Rs 6.5 crore is due from the state government to a single hospital, which had to get a loan of Rs 1 crore to meet its expenses. Many hospitals in Dhanbad, Godda, Giridih and Garhwa have already stopped treating patients under Ayushman Bharat Health Scheme, he said. Private hospital operators claimed that as per the MoU signed with the state government, there is a provision of paying interest on the dues, which may put an extra burden on the state exchequer.
Officials in the state government on the other hand said that being a flagship programme of the central government, it could not be interrupted all of a sudden. They that funds under the scheme are being released gradually and private hospitals will get their dues very soon.