THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The functioning of cath labs for Kozhikode, Alappuzha and Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical Colleges will take a hit from Friday as the Chamber of Distributors of Medical Implants and Disposables (CDMID) decided to stop the supply of stents to them.
According to the CDMID, the state government owes them Rs 47 crore as outstanding dues and alleged that it was yet to take a favourable decision on clearing the same.
“The decision to stop the supply of stents was taken in the executive committee meeting convened on Thursday. The decision was also conveyed to the Alappuzha GMC superintendent. We will convey the same to other Medical College superintendents on Friday,” said Nidheesh PK, secretary, CDMID. According to the secretary, though the association had presented several requests to the government, it paid no heed to the same and it is against this backdrop that they decided to move towards strong protest programmes.
“We informed the government about the protest in July itself. Then it was promised that the outstanding dues will get remitted within August. The deadline later was extended to September. We are yet to receive a single penny,” said Nidheesh. As per the data available with CDMID, as of June 30, the pending dues is Rs 47 crore and of this Thiruvananthapuram and Alappuzha GMCs have outstanding dues pending from 2014.
“What the Health Minister’s Office intimated us is that the dues were a result of the arrears made by the Reliance General Insurance which implemented the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) scheme. But the truth is the government had failed to get the reimbursement under the erstwhile Karunya Benevolent Fund on time,” said an office-bearer of CDMID.