‘Delays increasing debt, affecting cycle of healthcare delivery’
Irfan Tramboo
Srinagar, Mar 23: The much-hyped Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) is failing to hold the ground across Kashmir with private hospitals and dialysis centres currently facing the heat due to the pending of payments as well as the rejection of cases which is in turn affects the overall patient care.
The management of several dialysis centres and major private hospitals operating across Srinagar told Excelsior that either they are facing the issue of non-payment of bills for the last several months, or their cases have been rejected for no reason due to which they have been left in a lurch.
A major private hospital in Srinagar has pending bills worth Rs 2 crore, while around 800 of their cases have been rejected for the delay in the uploading of the relevant documents on the Ayushman Portal which happened during the COVID when the maximum staff of the hospital had tested positive for the COVID and were not able to carry out the necessary formalities. The issue remains unaddressed for last some time now.
While the hospital in focus is struggling to get the pending payments-the cases of which have been rejected-no renewal of the agreement of the SHA with the hospital had been carried out due to which the overall patient care, particularly, the patients who have to undergo the necessary dialysis are suffering. Even as the hospital, along with several others, are now mulling to shut their services under the health scheme.
The management of the private hospitals said that the issue of delay in the payments, as well as the rejection, is rampant and almost all the private empanelled hospitals are facing a tough time.
The same is the situation with the dialysis centres as well as the nursing homes that are empanelled under the PMJAY scheme, whose administrators said that the bills worth lakhs are pending with the State Health Agency.
One of the managers of a dialysis centre told Excelsior that he has been constantly pursuing the matter and despite that, the concerned agency has not released his payments.
“We have an outstanding of around 20 lakh rupees and so far, for the last more than 2 months, our payments have not been released, leaving us in a difficult position,” he said.
The Manager said that whenever their payments are released that is like a few thousand rupees against lakhs. “How is that going to suffice,” they said, adding that due to the undue delays, the entire cycle of healthcare delivery gets disrupted.
The empanelled private hospitals said that they are currently facing a difficult time as their debts are increasing with every passing day while as they are not in a position to clear the same with the result the overall functioning of their hospitals has taken a hit.
On the other hand, there is also a delay from the Government’s side in roping in the insurance company after the agreement with the Bajaj Allianz ended. However, the officials said that within a day or two the same is going to be finalized with the IFFCO Tokio General Insurance Company Limited
On the issue of the delay in the payments, the officials of the State Health Agency (SHA) told Excelsior that the payments are going to be released within a month or so. “While the agreement is going to be finalized with the IFFCO Tokio, we will also be releasing 50-60 crore rupees as payment within a month or so,” the officials said.
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