Kochi: Rs 45 crore in dues for Ex-servicemen Contributory Health Scheme

Thrissur: Due to non-payment of dues of Rs 45 crore the Ex-servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) empanelled private hospitals in Kochi region have decided to attend only life-threatening medical cases of soldiers and relatives who are part of the scheme starting from March 1.

The officials of the empanelled hospitals told reporters here on Tuesday that other hospitals under Kannur and Thiruvananthapuram regional centres were also facing the issue of huge dues as the Union defence ministry had stopped the usually monthly/daily payments to hospitals for the past three months.

Representatives of 22 empanelled hospitals from Kozhikode, Malappuram, Palakkad, Thrissur, Kochi, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts held a meeting in Thrissur on Tuesday over the issue and met the media.

“There have been dues all these while, but, there were payments done by ECHS towards the dues on a daily/monthly basis which stopped three mon-ths ago,” V. Rajan, representative of ECHS Empa-nelled Private Hospitals Forum and head of ECHS department of KIMS Al Shifa Hospital at Perin-thalmanna said.

He further said that the officials at the Kochi Regional Centre of ECHS were not able to give any confirmation or timeline about the settling dues by the ECHC Central Organisation in New Delhi.

“The Rs 45 to Rs 48 crore due is only the approved amount, and the pending billing amount is above Rs 100 cr. Billed amounts are verified and vetted by the ECHS panel of doctors. The final approved amount is fixed after queries and short sizing the bills submitted by the hospitals,” Mr Rajan added.