Over ₹1,500 crore pending bills, private specialty hospitals refuse to offer services under Aarogyasri scheme in Andhra

In protest against the non-clearance of the dues of ₹1500 crore since August 2023, private super specialty hospitals in Andhra Pradesh refused to offer cashless treatment to people under the state government's Aarogyasri health scheme from May 22.

The Dr. YSR Aarogyasri Scheme is a unique health scheme being implemented by the State Government of Andhra Pradesh. The scheme provides financial assistance to BPL (Below Poverty Line) families to meet their catastrophic health needs, covering up to ₹5 lakh per family per year.

The Andhra Pradesh Speciality Hospitals Association (ASHA) wrote a letter to the Aarogyasri Trust on May 20 stating that, in addition to patients being covered by Aarogyasri, private hospitals would also discontinue offering subsidised treatment to state government employees under the EHS (Employees Health Scheme).

The Association said in the letter that since August 2023, the government has not been clearing pending bills, and the total amount due has piled up to almost ₹1500 crore, asking the government to settle their debts so that people could avoid any inconvenience. The association stated that specialty hospitals were forced to take this decision under unavoidable circumstances.

A senior office bearer of the association said that, as per the Memorandum of Understanding with the hospitals, the bills are supposed to be cleared within 45 days. “The scope of the treatment under Aarogyasri has been enhanced since the last five years, and the number of procedures covered has risen from 900 to 3,200. This has caused a huge burden on private hospitals. Whenever we represented the matter to the government, it used to release small amounts to the hospitals. Even this has come to a halt over the last eight months,” he added.

Andhra Pradesh Aarogyasri Network Hospitals Association President Dr. Busireddy Narendra Reddy said the smaller private hospitals would continue to extend the medical facility to the poor patients, though specialty hospitals have decided to stop treatment from May 22.

“The number of patients getting treatment under the Aarogyasri scheme has increased from 12 lakh in 2022–23 to 13.90 lakh in 2023–24. But the budget under the scheme remained the same at ₹3,350 crore. This has resulted in a backlog of payments,” Reddy explained.