Andhra Pradesh: Insufficient funds for NTR Vaidya Seva health scheme
The scheme was a huge success and provided medical services to crores of beneficiaries.
Vijayawada: Allocation to NTR Vaidya Seva (Arogya Sri) is drawing criticism as the state government has just allocated Rs 1,000 crore for the programme meant for BPL families.
The health scheme, earlier named Rajiv Arogyasri, was started in 2007 by then Congress government to provide quality medical services for people below poverty line (BPL).
The scheme was a huge success and provided medical services to crores of beneficiaries across the two Telugu states.
The Andhra Pradesh government changed the name of trust to Dr NTR Vaidya Seva Trust after the bifurcation.
Around 400 corporate and private hospitals were empaneled under the scheme to provide cashless treatment.
But the scheme faced various problems in the recent times as corporate hospitals threatened to stall their services due to delay in payments.
The AP government spends around '900 crore every year on this scheme.
Delay in payments to hospitals has become frequent. Opposition parties have raised serious allegations on government as it made approval process tough with many restrictions.
“The government is neglecting various health schemes. Arogyasri scheme was neglected as the government does not want to spend much amount on this scheme. The government allocated only Rs 500 crore in 2016-17 budget, and now it had increased the amount to Rs 1,000 crore, which is insufficient,” said YSRC chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
“The scheme is getting neglected by private hospitals as the government is delaying the payments. Many network hospitals are providing poor services with the delay of payments. The amount sanctioned by government was insufficient according to the revised tariff packages. The government is trying to create problems in the name of online approvals,” said Dr Ambati Naga Radha Krishna, PCC doctors’ cell in charge.
Dr NTR Vaidya Seva trust condemned the allegations made by opposition parties.
“The government released Rs 1,401.68 crore for Dr NTR Vidya Seva this year. We have cleared dues of around Rs 341 crore for the financial year 2015-16 and Rs 112 crore for year 2014-15,” said Dr A. Ravi Shankar, CEO of Dr. NTR Vaidya Seva trust.
He said the trust was committed to the health care of its beneficiaries. Ravi Shankar reminded that government had increased the services and packages in recent time to provide quality services.