All 220 private hospitals in Telangana providing Aarogyasri scheme will stop providing their services over non-payment of dues to the tune of Rs 1,200 crore by the Telangana State government. The strike comes at a time when the state is all geared up for elections on December 7. Aarogyasri, a flagship health scheme was launched in 2007 in united Andhra by the YS Rajasekhara Reddy-led government with the aim of providing free healthcare to families Below Poverty Line (BPL).
“The non-revision of package rates and the non-payment of dues have adversely impacted the financial viability of the scheme for the hospitals under the Aarogyasri hospital network. The non-payment of dues has impacted the availability of working capital. Over the years the operational costs of hospitals have gone up but the rates at which the state government pays the hospitals have remained the same,” said T Hari Prakash, general secretary with the Telangana Network Hospitals Association (TNHA) that represents the 220 network hospitals.
The suspension of the scheme would impact 84.5 lakh Below Poverty Line (BPL) families, over 3 lakh state government employees and many journalists who are covered under the scheme. The hospitals have already stopped providing general Out Patient (OP) and diagnostic services from November 20 and will stop all other services for 949 types of treatments that come under the scheme from December 1.