By DC Correspondent
Copyright deccanchronicle
Hyderabad: Rajiv Aarogyasri Health Care Trust CEO Uday Kumar on Monday appealed to all empanelled private hospitals to continue their partnership under the state’s flagship health insurance scheme, which provides coverage to over 99 lakh below-poverty-line (BPL) families in Telangana. His appeal came after the Telangana Aarogyasri Network Hospitals Association (TANHA) announced that member hospitals would suspend services under the scheme from midnight on September 16, citing non-payment of dues amounting to Rs 1,400 crore.Kumar said that since the new government assumed office on December 7, 2023, the scheme’s coverage had been expanded significantly. The annual insurance cover per family was doubled from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh, 163 new high-cost procedures were included, and package rates for 1,375 procedures were revised at an additional cost of Rs 487.29 crore.“Timely settlement of dues has been prioritised over the past two years. Average monthly payouts in 2024–25 have been a record Rs 95 crore, and claims worth Rs 1,779 crore were cleared — the highest ever under the scheme. To address pending claims, phase-wise monthly payments of Rs 75 crore were introduced for December 2023–December 2024, up from the earlier Rs 57 crore average. Following further representations from hospitals, monthly payouts were raised to Rs 100 crore,” Kumar explained.He urged hospitals to reconsider their decision, stressing that the government had demonstrated its commitment to resolving issues while ensuring that no poor family in Telangana was denied healthcare.TANHA, however, remained firm on its stand. State president V. Rakesh said the government had been repeating the same assurances for the past nine months without clearing long-pending dues. “Hospitals will go ahead with the decision to withdraw services from midnight,” he maintained.
