Andhra hospitals stop admitting new Aarogyasri patients over unpaid bills

Vijayawada: Private nursing homes including some corporate hospitals empanelled in the list of network hospitals by the Dr YSR Aarogyasri Health Care Trust on Wednesday stopped admitting new patients in protest against inordinate delay in clearing bills on the expenditure incurred by them.

"We are facing untold hardship in clearing dues to suppliers of drugs, oxygen and consumables due to irregular release of funds by the government," Andhra Pradesh Speciality Hospital Association (ASHA) president Busireddy Narendra Reddy, said.

There is a phenomenal increase in demand for treatment under Aarogyasri after the YSRCP government a few months ago enhanced the ceiling on availing various services from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh - the highest being given anywhere in India.

In the city of Visakhapatnam, one of the main healthcare centres in AP, has about 100 hospitals are in the list of Aarogyasri network. All of them began their protest from Wednesday as announced earlier.

During talks with the hospitals, Dr YSR Aarogyasri Health Care Trust CEO G Lakshmisha appealed to the managements not to halt health care services after announcing the decision to release an amount of Rs 203 crore on Tuesday. The hospitals are demanding release of Rs 1500 crore, which is due from August, 2023 till March, 2024 in one go.

Adding to the woes of the government, AP Private Medical Colleges' Association also threatened to stop treatment to Aarogyasri patients as the government failed to release amounts due towards Covid-19 patients for the past three years. They said the delay is occurring despite offering hefty discounts in diagnostic services and providing free surgeries.

When contacted, an official of a corporate hospital in Visakhapatnam told Bizz Buzz that though they have not discontinued treatment to in-patients admitted under the Aarogyasri, they are just noting down particulars of new patients without admitting them. However, he said they are not denying admission to emergency cases.

Government officials said due to the Model Code of Code, they have put on hold bill payments since March and are releasing only those cases which need to be settled immediately after following due procedures. They stated that bills to the tune of Rs 550 crore are ready

for release.

However, TDP leader and former Minister Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao alleged that health care being an essential service, the government should not have taken it lightly.

A senior official denied the charge and said they are releasing the dues on quarterly basis and claimed that the erstwhile TDP government demitted office with 60 per cent of expenditure incurred during its regime unpaid. Earlier, in a statement, ASHA working president Y Ramesh and general secretary C Avinash said they have no plans to put the public to inconvenience.