New Delhi: Insufficient fund allocation and delayed payments plaguing the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) have prompted the private sector to restrict their services to the scheme’s beneficiaries in several states.
According to Mint, the matter of delayed payments was brought up in a review meeting attended by officials from the NITI Aayog, health ministry and some private hospitals on May 1.
The Union government has allocated Rs 7,500 to PMJAY this year. The scheme is jointly funded in the ratio of 60:40 between the central and state governments.
“The problem of untimely payments to the hospitals arose when some states like Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh merged their state health scheme into the PMJAY,” said Girdhar Gyani, director general, Association of Healthcare Providers of India (AHPI) which represents a large chunk of healthcare providers in India.
The delay in payments has affected the cash flow in private hospitals, leading to serious operational issues, Gyani told Mint.
“The government is positively reviewing the critical feedback of the scheme from the private sector,” a person aware of the matter told the paper. “The National Health Authority has played its role. Now, the state government must finance the scheme to make PM-JAY sustainable for the private sector,” one of the persons said.
“Right now, private hospitals are feeling exhausted because of PM-JAY. Initially, the private sector thought that they would be able to fill their vacant beds at subsidised rates, but now it is consuming their profits,” said the person, adding the government is trying to address the concerns raised.
The pending bills were being reviewed by the finance department, the report said.
According to Gyani, private hospitals are willing to provide low health package rates; however, they will avoid the scheme’s beneficiaries if they have to face a cash crunch in the process.
“The central government has been consistently telling the states that if they want to bring additional population under PMJAY, then the additional amount must be given by the state government only and the central government will not contribute to it,” said Gyani.
The beneficiaries under the PMJAY are selected based on Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) database 2011. According to the Indian Express, nearly 32 crore people have been given PMJAY cards as of March this year.
