No cashless CGHS treatment from February 1, 2014

Hyderabad: The 800 hospitals in the country empanelled under the Central Government Health Scheme will stop cashless transactions from February 1, 2014, because, they claim, the government has not cleared arrears of Rs 600 crore.

The aggrieved hospitals have come together under the umbrella of the Association of Healthcare Providers India and had served notice to the CGHS office in New Delhi on December 13, 2013.

A meeting with the Union health secretary K.N. Desiraju on January 9 yielded no results.

A senior officer of AHPI said, “The amount has been budgeted in the health budget and it must be released. But it is not being done. Hence, the question is, where is it going?”

Since 2010, the hospitals have been complaining of 40 per cent unauthorised deductions in the payments. Now they have come together to put across their point to the government.

AHPI general secretary for AP Govind Hari says, “The problem started in 2002 when they started inviting tenders. In doing so, they reduced the cost of surgeries drastically. Also, orthopaedic treatment costs Rs 3,200 in Karnataka and Rs 10,000 in AP. These errors in terms of determining the cost put the hospitals in a spot.”

A senior member of the APHI said, “We want to quit as it has become more of a burden than a service as the clearance promise of 180 days is hardly followed.”

Additional director, CGHS, Dr Prasad, says, “We have not received any communication from the hospitals.” But senior officers in the Begumpet office of the department say there has been an assessment of the pending amount, and deliberations have started to sort out that matter.