Private Hospitals Stop YSR Aarogyasri Services in AP

Vijayawada: Private hospitals empanelled under Dr. YSR Aarogyasri's scheme have stopped providing health care services to patients in Andhra Pradesh from Thursday onwards.

They are, however, attending to emergency cases to stabilise the patients, before sending them to the nearby government medical college/hospital for further healthcare. This is to ensure that no patient suffers.

Doctors of private hospitals have appealed to the state government that it release the promised Rs 560 crore immediately, which will help them resume healthcare services under the Aarogyasri scheme.

Nearly 800 private hospitals are yet to get reimbursement of around Rs 1,200 crore from the state government from June 2023.

On December 29, 2023, too, private hospitals had announced the stopping of health care services, with an appeal to the state government that it release their due amount. At the time, the government assured them that it will release Rs 560 crore and also to set up committees to resolve various grievances.

Private doctors say this promise has remained unfulfilled, forcing them to stop their healthcare services again in the state from Thursday.

Sources say though Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has issued directions to the finance department to clear dues, there seems to be a bottleneck somewhere. As a result, no amount has been released to the hospitals so far.

Doctors say during earlier days, procedures covered under Aarogyasri had been just around 300. Only 20 per cent of the population came under the scheme. At present, there are nearly 2,800 procedures and 92.3 per cent of total population is covered under the Aarogyasri scheme. This, and lack of reimbursement from the state government, has resulted in hospitals having no cash at their disposal even to pay wages to the staff to continue healthcare services to patients.

Private hospitals are also seeking revision in the tariff of healthcare services, which have remained static since 2014. In the interim, prices of healthcare products have gone up two to three-fold, particularly in the aftermath of Covid-19.

Private hospitals have displayed flex banners informing patients that they are not providing Aarogyasri healthcare services due to the non-release of pending dues from the state government.

A doctor, who runs an Aarogyasri empanelled hospital, said, “We are not against the state government. We are requesting it to release dues, as we have no money to run the hospital at present.”