Friday, January 3, 2020

Private hospitals threaten to stop cashless facility from Feb. 1 

‘₹1,200 crore pending in dues under CGHS, ECHS’ 


03/01/2020 , Special Correspondent, Bengaluru

With dues to the tune of ₹1,200 crore pending for treatment of patients under the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) and Ex-servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS), private hospitals across the country have threatened to stop cashless facility under the scheme from February 1.

If implemented, it will impact around 36 lakh Central government employees, including their dependants, and pensioners under CGHS and over 52 lakh ex-servicemen and dependants covered by ECHS in over 1,000 empanelled hospitals and nursing homes in 71 cities. Of these, over 1.23 lakh beneficiaries are from Bengaluru.

Two weeks time

“We have given the Centre a deadline of two weeks and are hoping for a response. Our dues have accumulated since 2014 and if not cleared at the earliest, we will be constrained to suspend cashless services,” Alexander Thomas, president of Association of Healthcare Providers of India (AHPI), told The Hindu.

A letter flagging pendency of bills was sent to the Union Ministry of Finance in July 2019. But not much has moved since then, prompting the hospitals to take a call on stopping cashless services.

A majority of the empanelled hospitals are in Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.

Hospital representatives claimed that the pendency had worsened since the launch of Ayushman Bharat or Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana healthcare scheme.

Giridhar Gyani, APHI Chief Executive Officer, said the healthcare industry was on the brink of financial unsustainability due to pendency of dues.

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