Telangana: 240 hospitals halt Aarogyasri: Hospitals alleged govt defaulted 1500 Crore payments

Hyderabad: On August 16, around 240 private hospitals under Telangana Aarogyasri Network Hospitals Association (TANHA) stopped Aarogyasri services over pending dues by the government. According to TANHA, dues of about Rs. 1,500 crore is yet to be cleared.

However, in an official statement to all government medical colleges, director of medical education, K Ramesh Reddy said, “Aarogyasri cases coming to our government hospital during the Network Hospital strike should not be denied treatment or admission.”

“The Aarogyasri Network Hospitals gave a call not to admit any Aarogyasri cases in their hospitals from Friday. In view of this, there may be an extra number of patients coming to our hospitals and there is a need to be ready to accept cases in our facilities,” Reddy said.

Talking to Newsmeter, Dr C Krishna Prasad, former President and the current member of TANHA, said, “We stopped Aarogyasri services from Friday. The government has assured and yet failed to clear the due amount around Rs. 1,500 crores over the years. The government is enjoying the time by granting Rs. 100 crore against Rs. 1,500 crore when we held a protest.”

Aarogyasri Health Services Care Trust (AHCT) approved Rs. 300 crore in the past week.

According to Dr C K Prasad, TANHA hospitals are not going to resume the services unless all their demands are met and their dues are cleared by the government.

TANHA also boycotted the meeting on Friday with the government and will participate in the meeting only after all the dues are cleared.

Four demands put before the government by TANHA:

1. Release of the due amount Rs. 1,500 crore

2. Further payments through priority green channel

3. Redrafting/ Revising the unilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)

4. Increasing packages for all surgeries under Aarogyasri/ Employment Health Scheme (EHS)/ Journalist Health Scheme (JHS)

This is not the first time that private hospitals have halted the services. In December 2018, TANHA halted Aarogyasri services for around 10 days and resumed them only after the government assured of clearing the dues. However, this time, the TANHA members are adamant about their strike and are strong on their demands.