The Government is soon expected to take a decision on bringing bone marrow transplant and other complex surgeries involving heart, lung, kidney and cadaver organ transplants under the Aarogyasri scheme, said its Chief Executive Officer M. Chandrashekar here on Thursday.
About 40 laboratories in all the district hospitals are going to be upgraded so that patients need not travel to the capital for any test.
Soon, a high-end pathological lab will be set up, either at Gandhi or Osmania General Hospital here with free services for health card holders and at subsidised prices for others, announced Health Minister C. Laxma Reddy.
They were addressing leaders of employees’ unions and Aarogyasri staff at the Trust office following the launch of the mobile app. The Minister also stated that an exclusive block with 80 rooms for Government staff at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) was getting ready. Taking note of complaints about corporate hospitals not accepting health cards, he retorted that several private hospitals other than 12 corporate hospitals were providing quality treatment. “They are seeking 40 per cent in excess to our packages. We are holding talks with them. People should encourage government hospitals as we are trying to improve healthcare delivery,” he said. Dr. Chandrashekar said a ‘medical audit’ of cases undertaken for the first time showed ‘10 to 15 doubtful cases a week’.
About 11 lakh health cards for employees were issued and out of the 278 hospitals in Telangana, a dozen corporate hospitals were not accepting them.
Little more than Rs.130 crore was released to government and private hospitals under Employees Health Scheme (EHS).
Unions critical Union leaders including NGOs, Teachers and others along with MLA Srinivas Goud lambasted the corporate hospitals for not honouring health cards. “The government should make all hospitals accept health cards. Hospitals get so many tax concessions and why can’t the government take action? There is no proper monitoring,” charged leaders like Devi Prasad, Ravinder Reddy and others.
