Hyderabad: There has been a rather alarming increase of viral-fever and respiratory illness cases in the city of Hyderabad. Patients are thronging both the Government and private hospitals for treatment leading to a rush in the Out Patient facilities.

According to an article in a leading English daily,it has recently come to light that Aarogyasri patients were refused treatment in the hospitals over the reason that the government has not cleared the dues to the hospitals under the Aarogyasri reimbursement scheme.

Private Hospitals which are under the Telangana Network Hospitals Association and the Telangana Small Nursing Homes Association have claimed that the government owed them dues to the tune of over Rs 1,200 crores as part of Arogyasri scheme reimbursements. They had said that these dues have been pending since eight months and if the government did not clear the dues they would have to stop treatment for these out patients. Senior members of the medical fraternity also warned Government and the people that they may have to boycott OP and Diagnostic services under the scheme.

A senior member of the Telangana Small Nursing Homes Association said that despite meetings with the government they are yet to receive payments from the government and last time a sum of only Rs 100 crores was released against a pending amount of Rs 700 crores. He claimed that it had become extremely difficult to treat patients when basic maintenance and input charges were not given by the government through the scheme. More than 12 hospitals and small nursing homes have shut down and many more are on the verge of closing down as they have been unable to bear the burden of these dues.

December 1 Boycott of Arogyasri OP and Diagnostic Services

In many places, hospitals have put up banners stating that no out-patient will be taken in for treatment and only in-patients will be treated on an emergency basis. The Telangana Network Hospitals Association have also stated that they will not see out-patients from December 1 if the government refuses to pay the pending bills and there could be a possibility of a boycott of taking even in-patients for treatment.

Meanwhile, the Arogyasri department officials say that they have been clearing the bills regularly, but the credit cycle has extended from three months which is leading to an overdue of payments. But with the state going to polls in December, there is nobody to take charge and there could be further delay with the new government when elected will have to look into these dues and clear the files, which could mean another couple months of delay.

Also Read: Arogyasri Is A Picture Of Neglect Under Chandrababu