Karnataka Hospitals turn away BPL patients as Govt. sits on dues

Bangalore, Jan 2017:

Private hospitals in Karnataka are turning away patients who seek treatment under a government-run health insurance scheme.

The reason behind the refusal of treatment is said to be the delay in payment of outstanding dues of over Rs 110 crore from the State Health Department-run Suvarna Aroygya Suraksha Trust.

The other reason behind the denial of treatment is that the hospitals claim that patients are misusing the Below-the-poverty-line (BPL) cards.

Expressing their inability to provide further treatment under the insurance scheme, the empaneled private hospitals had threatened to discontinue the enrolling of patients in the coming days.

The hospitals who are members of the recently formed Federation of Healthcare Associations (FHA)-Karnataka, a consortium of Registered Private Hospital Associations in the state, have demanded that the government clear their dues without any further delay.

Following the development, the state health minister KR Ramesh Kumar convened a meeting with FHA representatives and assured them that their dues will be cleared within fifteen days.

The minister also assured to form a panel to look into the issues of unscientific price fixation and misuse of BPL cards. However, hospitals did not seem satisfied and stated that such meetings have been conducted in the past but but without concrete results.