Due to non-payment of dues, the employee health scheme services and free OPDs in NTR Vaidya Seva Network hospitals are being stopped from Monday. This was revealed by Andhra Pradesh Network Hospitals Association (ASHA) President K. Vijayakumar.
He told media in Vijayawada on Monday that dues of Rs. 3,000 crore have already accumulated. He said that there were dues of Rs. 2,250 crore during the previous government itself. He revealed that even though Rs. 1500 crore was released after the formation of the new government, Rs. 3,000 crore is still to be received.
He deplored that the financial condition of the hospitals is not good and free medical services cannot be provided. Moreover, he said that traders have stopped the supply of medicines, medical equipment and chemicals to the hospitals due to non-payment of dues. He said that banks are also not cooperating due to overdraft.
In this context, he said that they had given notices to the government that medical services would be stopped in NTR Vaidya Seva Network hospitals from January 6. In response to their notices, the CEO of the trust called and said that they would clear the dues and invited them for discussions on Monday.
Out of respect for the government, he said they announced that only OP and EHS services would be stopped from Monday morning. He made it clear that it would be difficult for private hospitals in the state to survive if the government goes into the health insurance scheme.
Vijayakumar demanded that at least a co-payment system be implemented in this. He said that it would be difficult to run hospitals 100 percent cashless through health insurance.
Meanwhile, the hospital managements met on this issue and discussed the issues at length. The majority members proposed that the government be given a deadline until January 25 and that if at least Rs. 1,500 crore dues were not released by then, the services would be stopped. ASHA is yet to come to a final decision on this. It was decided to take a final decision after discussions with government officials on Monday.
