In the wake of the Haryana Indian Medical Association (IMA) deadline to stop treatment of Ayushman Bharat scheme beneficiaries in the State over outstanding dues running into several crores approaching in two days, the State Health Agency (SHA) on Tuesday said it has received the budget from the government and the payments to empanelled hospitals was initiated on a ‘First-In-First-Out’ basis.
Haryana IMA president Mahaveer Jain, however, said there was no official communication from the government, and the private hospitals have decided to withdraw the services, adding that several other issues also remained unaddressed.
Around 700 private hospitals are empanelled under the scheme in the State.
In a letter to the Chief Executive Officer of Ayushman Bharat (Haryana Health Protection Authority) on July 28, the Haryana IMA had brought up the issue of delay in payments, and the alleged inaction of the State government despite the matter having been raised several times and repeated assurances.
“Time and again we have been apprising officials of irregular payments, at times delayed by 4-5 months. In our meeting with Chief Minister Nayab Saini on January 8, we were assured that all payments will be made in stipulated time of 15 days. We again had a high-level meeting with Chief Principal Secretary Rajesh Khullar on February 3. We were assured that all problems are being solved now and after March 10 all things will be fully streamlined. Unfortunately, none of these assurances has been fulfilled,” said the letter. It added that the payments were still delayed and irregular, unnecessary deductions were being made and the processing of cases was also delayed.
