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Private hospitals in Haryana refuse to admit patients under Ayushman scheme, leaving patients harried

July 04,2024

Jind: In an ongoing deadlock over pending payments, private hospitals in Haryana have stopped admitting patients under the Ayushman Bharat and Chirayu Haryana schemes. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has called for the protest, affecting nearly 700 private hospitals across the state which refused treatment of patients.

Notably, private doctors claimed that several private hospitals are empanelled under the central government’s Ayushman Bharat and state government’s Chirayu Haryana schemes. The schemes provide cashless treatment to beneficiaries, with the government clearing the dues of private hospitals. However, the state government has not released payments worth over ₹225 crore, prompting the protest statewide, said doctors.

The move has left several patients in need of treatment under the schemes in a difficult situation. Gauri, Rampal, Vicky and many other patients who reached private hospitals in Jind district were forced to return as doctors refused to treat them.

Shamser Singh, a native of Chhatar village of Uchana Kalan town said that “my treatment was going on in a private hospital in the city. Doctors have fixed my appointment today for conducting back bones’ operation but they refused citing payment issues. It’s up to government and private hospitals to settle down the issue but patients should not be harassed. We don’t know where to go now,” he said while expressing his

Reportedly, nearly 74.33 lakh beneficiaries are covered under the Chirayu scheme in Haryana and 28.89 lakh beneficiaries are covered under the Ayushman scheme in the state. Each family gets health coverage of up to ₹5 lakh per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation under the schemes.

Talking to TOI, Dr Gopal Goyal said that patients who are being denied for treatment in private hospitals are being looked after in government hospitals. “We have asked our teams to speed up the process to treat such patients as per requirements,” he added.

On being contacted Dr Ajay Mahajan, IMA state president, said that “today we held a meeting with Sudhir Rajpal, ACS health who assured us to clear our pending payment till July 15. We will wait as per the assurance given by him and action would be taken accordingly. We would start treatment once we get minutes of a meeting held with ACS, said IMA state president.

Source: Healthworld