Healthcare dues meet a new scheme and old arithmetic
TANHA says over Rs 2,000 crore is pending and 360 small hospitals remain outside the new EHS. The government says 886 hospitals are already on board and earlier dues are being cleared.
The scheme’s expansion has been announced; the dues ledger remains disputed.
Telangana’s healthcare dispute now has two numbers competing for attention: TANHA’s claimed dues of more than Rs 2,000 crore, and the government’s claim that it is releasing Rs 2,000 crore a month to clear older bills. The arithmetic, unlike the press statements, still needs showing.
The Telangana Aarogyasri Network Hospitals Association says the dues have been pending for nearly 15 months and that none of its 360 small and medium hospitals has signed MoUs for the revamped Employee Health Scheme. TANHA president Dr Vaddiraju Rakesh says package rates are too low and delayed payments make participation financially unviable. One example cited by the association puts a procedure at Rs 26,500 now, against Rs 32,100 earlier.
The government’s reported position is that the new scheme covers about eight lakh employees and pensioners, 29.80 lakh dependants, 1,816 procedures and 886 private hospitals. Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka has said nearly Rs 10,000 crore in earlier medical bills is being cleared. A separate health-department official cited Rs 1,700 crore released under the current government.
The government has not published, in the material reviewed, a dues breakdown or a hospital-wise MoU list. For now, patients are left with a healthcare scheme whose expansion is announced in one column and whose payment model is disputed in the next. The Congress government has supplied the headline numbers; it still owes the ledger.