Raipur: Doctors seek payment of dues under health schemes

RAIPUR: Irked by the outstanding bills of now defunct health insurance scheme Smart Card, now merged under Ayushman Bharat health scheme, doctors of private nursing homes protested at state’s Ayushman Bharat nodal office.

The protesting doctors accused the state health department for rejecting the cases of patients treated by private nursing homes. One doctor said that the health department rejected 261 cases and thus refused to pay payments of Rs53 lakh.

The doctors said that the nodal scheme officials did not invite doctors to redressal meetings and refused to clear bills without checking their data.

Lending support to the protesting doctors, ENT specialist and Congress’s medical cell president Dr Rakesh Gupta said, “The health department straight away refused to pay the outstanding payments to the private doctors who treated the patients under the smart card health schemes. An amount close to Rs 40crore of the doctors is outstanding across the state this year.”

The doctors are also protesting the health department’s decision to issue NOC to insurance companies and demanded that technical snags of Ayushman Bharat scheme be addressed.

With doctors facing payment issues under medical schemes over the last four years, they will propose the state government to set a deadline for these payments in a stipulated time frame.