Private hospitals in Kochi threaten to end govt schemes from April

Kochi: Private hospitals in the state have decided to stop all central and state government schemes for patients from April 1. They will be serving a one-month notice to the concerned agencies in this regard on January 31. Schemes that will be discontinued include Karunya, Snehasparsham, Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (a health insurance scheme), ESI and ECHS.

Seen as a pressure tactic to draw state government’s attention to their demands, the decision may hit the poor as almost 70% of the patients take treatment in private hospitals. There are around 200 empanelled private hospitals in Kerala that cater to patients under these government schemes. Around 10-20% patients, who go to these empaneled hospitals, are covered under these schemes.

The decision announced by Kerala Private Hospitals Association (KPHA) on Tuesday received the support of Association of Healthcare Providers (India) AHPI. “We have to borrow money to treat patients under these schemes and often get the money after a year. The cost for several procedures under the government scheme has not been revised for a decade. The challenge for us now is that we have to bear the higher cost, in terms of wages for manpower. In these circumstances, continuing government schemes is neither viable nor affordable,” said president of AHPI (Kerala Chapter) Dr Harish Pillai.

However, Catholic hospitals in the state have decided to keep away from any decision that affects patients. “We don’t want these 200 hospitals to close down due to escalating costs. When we accept government schemes, the government should also be willing to hear us. In its present form, these schemes are not viable as the package cost offered is very less and we are suffering a loss of 20-30%,” said KPHA general secretary Hussain Koya Thangal.

KPHA’s main grudge against the government is the increased salary of nurses and other staff, high GST on hospital consumables and medicines and the government’s firm decision to bring even small hospitals (less than 100 beds) under the purview of Clinical Establishment Bill.

“Government needs to conduct a study and give us a viable solution to run these institutions before March 31, 2018,” added Farhaan Yasin, KPHA secretary in Kozhikode.

However, the government is not impressed. “They met me yesterday evening but didn’t mention a word about this decision. I don’t understand their intention,” said health secretary Rajeev Sadanandan.

Though private hospitals claimed that bills worth Rs 100 to Rs 110 crore were pending over the past 7-8 months, state government refuted the claim, saying that almost 70% of the claims were settled by December 31.