They had discontinued providing cashless treatment to retired and serving Central government employees
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has struck off the names of five hospitals in four cities from the list of hospitals empanelled under the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS).
CGHS provides cashless health treatment to retired and current employees of the Central government. The five hospitals were removed from the empanelled list for a period of six months because they had discontinued cashless treatment of eligible CGHS beneficiaries due to delay in settlement of previous bills. The government justified its action, saying the private hospitals decided this unilaterally without prior information.
The hospitals are Fortis Escort's Heart Institute in Faridabad (Uttar Pradesh), Delhi Heart & Lung Institute, Fortis Hospital in Jaipur (Rajasthan) and two units of M S Ramaiah Memorial Hospital in Bengaluru (Karnataka).
Nineteen other hospitals in Delhi, Bengaluru, Jaipur and Hyderabad have been served show cause notices for the same reason. It includes some noted hospitals like Narayana Hrudayalaya in Bengaluru, Moolchand hospital in Delhi and Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences and Yashoda hospitals in Hyderabad.
A statement issued by the ministry said that apart from delay in payment of pending bills, the lower rate offered by government for packages of treatment is another point of contention that led to the face-off.
Out of the 407 private hospitals on its panel, 24 will not serve the CGHS beneficiaries anymore. "Show cause notices stand issued to these hospitals and the empanelment of five hospitals has been suspended for a period of six months or till further orders, whichever is earlier," said the government statement.
The statement further noted that there is no reason for the beneficiaries to panic as the other hospitals continue to serve them. It assured that the ministry has already taken special steps for clearance of pending hospital bills and that the pendency of bills is almost cleared.
For the next financial year, CGHS had invited bids for revision of rates of treatment packages through tender process, where the last date for submission of bids was March 16. Steps are being taken to conclude the tender process.
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