- The PMJAY Private Empanelled Private Hospital Association Gujarat had been demanding that the pending amount of Rs 300 crore due to the hospitals be cleared first to sustain the government’s health insurance scheme
NE HEALTH BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, FEB 25
Private hospitals of Gujarat have decided to not accept patients under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), the Union government’s subsidised health insurance scheme for the poor, for four days from Monday to Thursday -February 26 to 29. However, emergency treatments will be given to the needy without any interruption on humanitarian grounds, the office-bearers said.
The PMJAY Private Empanelled Private Hospital Association Gujarat – the umbrella body comprising 789 private and charitable hospitals – had been demanding that the pending amount of over Rs 300 crore due to the hospitals be cleared first to sustain the government’s health insurance scheme. The Union government has not paid dues for the last two years and a number of private and trust-run hospitals are “in dire fiscal straits”.
After PMJAY Empanelled Private Hospitals Association of Gujarat held a media meet on February 13 in this regard, the government has released only five to ten percent mock and eligible payment.
As a mark of protest against the govt apathy and no written assurance from the Union government, nearly 800 hospitals have decided to shut the doors for these PMJAY patients initially for four days, says an association release.
The Association also claimed that multiple representations to the government officials, including the Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya, went unheard.
The release further added that following the intervention of Gujarat Health Minister Rushikesh Patel on February 21, the office-bearers met Principal Secretary (Health) Dhananjay Dwivedi and other officials but it was infructuous.
Association office-bearers Dr Rameshbhai, Dr Divyesh Viroja, and Dr Umesh Godhani, in their release, said, “We have decided not to accept any patient under PMJAY from February 26 to 29 as a token of our protest. If our issues remain unresolved even after that, we will have no other option but proceed to not accept patients under PMJAY indefinitely and intensify our movement.” he said.
The Association also complained about “unexplained deductions and rejection of claims by the insurance company Bajaj Allianz”.
