Private hospitals to stop CGHS
cashless scheme from March 7
In a blow to government employees,
including those who have retired, the Central Government Health Service has
announced withdrawal of cashless medical service in private hospitals
empanelled with the CGHS scheme from March 7. Patients will henceforth have to
cough up hospital charges and later claim the amount from the government,
according to the new rule.
The move will affect 50 lakh serving
employees and over 30 lakh pensioners, as well as their family members. At a
conservative estimate, the total number of persons affected could well be over
two crore.
The move was necessary, said the Association
of Healthcare Providers India (or AHPI, the nodal body of private
empanelled hospitals) for a number of reasons, the main ones being CGHS owes
these hospitals around Rs 200 crore in unpaid services as well as
"unreasonably low" CGHS tariffs that haven't been revised for the
last four years. A doctor's consultation fee, for example, remains Rs 58.
Also, AHPI says CGHS makes
"illegal" deductions of 10% on all payments leading to losses for
member hospitals. AHPI claims the amount runs up to Rs 180 crore.
In Karnataka, 20 hospitals, all in
Bangalore, are empanelled with AHPI. HCG, Apollo hospitals, MS Ramaiah Memorial
Hospital and Bangalore Baptist Hospital, among others, will not provide the
cashless health scheme from March 7.
"When we were empanelled with
the government, it was agreed upon that we will get 10% rebate on treatment
charges if the government pays within seven days. But now, this deduction has
been made applicable even when the amount is unpaid for years. That's illegal.
This has led to huge losses for member hospitals amounting to over Rs 180 crore
over the past three years," says Dr Alexander Thomas, CEO, Bangalore
Baptist hospital, who represents AHPI in Bangalore.
Some hospitals have put up a public
notice to this effect, reading, "CGHS tariffs are unreasonably low and not
been revised for the last four years, threatening the very existence of the
medical service providers."
Dr Naresh Shetty of AHPI said,
"The empanelled hospitals have been providing services under most
difficult circumstances. They had to deal with steep hikes in electricity and
water tariff, consumables, wages, taxes. We've been requesting a revision since
June 2013 but there's been no response."
Officialspeak
The dues are just one issue. The
bigger issue is that a doctor's consultation charge of Rs 58 is appalling. The
fees for several procedures are abysmally low. We don't want to let down our
beneficiaries but we have no choice. We ask the CGHS to consider the rates of
the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers.
We've suggested that if at all CGHS were to take tender route, let CGHS decide
the rates based on lowest bid received from NABH-accredited hospitals. Adopting
rates like this would be logical and rational. Treating a patient can't be made
similar to selling onions and potatoes. —Giridhar K Gyani | director general,
AHPI, New Delhi
