Srinagar, March 01: Private hospitals empaneled under the AB-PMJAY SEHAT Scheme in Jammu and Kashmir are still awaiting pending payments for months, pushing them into financial distress.
“We are still waiting for payments that were promised to us. Nearly 40 to 50 percent of the hospital payments for 2024, until October, remain unpaid. It is making things extremely difficult for us,” said a private hospital owner in Srinagar.
The private hospitals owners said last year they were promised that the pending payments will be paid till December end; however, they are still waiting for the release of half payments.
“Many hospitals are on the brink of bankruptcy, struggling to sustain operations. Despite the financial burden, they continue to provide services to patients under the scheme. However, the delay in payments is severely affecting their ability to handle Ayushman cases, creating uncertainty about future healthcare services,” he said.
“If the payments are not released soon, many hospitals may be forced to cut down services,” said another hospital official, urging authorities to take immediate action.
“The scheme, which aims to provide free healthcare to people, is facing challenges due to these delays.” Hospital owners have appealed to the administration to expedite payments to ensure the smooth functioning of healthcare facilities in the region.
The AB-PMJAY SEHAT Scheme in J&K was in the news last year after IFFCO-TOKIO took an exit from the scheme with the result the private hospitals faced payment issues for months. In Sep 2024, private hospitals had halted their services for 10 days after the insurance company had failed to comply with High Court directions.
However, later the Health and Medical Education (H&ME) Department J&K directly released the payment to both government and private hospitals under the PMJAY scheme.
On Feb 06, the private hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir criticized the government’s proposal to reserve four surgical procedures exclusively for public hospitals in the UT.
On Feb 16, the private hospitals criticized the removal of the UT-specific 10 percent uniform rate enhancement on packages for private hospitals in a new tender and demanded its reversal.
In Jammu and Kashmir, there are a total of 251 hospitals empanelled under the PMJAY scheme which includes 133 private hospitals and 118 public hospitals.
AB-PMJAY guarantees cashless secondary and tertiary inpatient care for almost all health conditions to its beneficiaries. This ambitious scheme has extraordinary potential to protect people from serious health hazards.
The Ayushman Bharat, which includes Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana and AB PM-JAY SEHAT has transformed healthcare in J&K and these schemes have achieved more progress over the past five years.
