The Dr. Y.S.R. Aarogyasri Health Care Trust released an amount of ₹368 crore on May 18 (Thursday) towards payments to the empanelled hospitals in the State.
This was in response to the call given by the Andhra Pradesh Specialty Hospitals Association (ASHA) to stop Aargoyasri services pending disbursal of the amount.
Earlier, members of the ASHA informed the Health Care Trust that they would stop admission of new Aarogyasri and Employee Health Scheme (EHS) cases starting May 19 (Friday) until the dues were cleared.
In a letter to the Trust’s CEO, ASHA president V. Murali Krishna stated that not even 10% of the expenditure incurred could be met with the payments made by the government the previous month.
Meanwhile, Trust’s CEO M.N. Harendhira Prasad held discussions with the office-bearers of ASHA and released ₹368 crore.
“The payment of ₹368 crore is being processed, and it will be credited to the hospitals by Friday. Another ₹550 crore towards services provided in February and March will be cleared soon. We have assured the association representatives that all payments will be made, and there will be no stoppage of Aarogyasri and EHS services,” Mr. Harendhira told The Hindu.
He said the Trust had paid ₹201 crore — ₹100 crore for Aarogyasri services and ₹101 crore for EHS services — on April 30, and and ₹205 crore on May 15.
He said the government was clearing the dues from time to time, and there was a gap in the payment due to increase in usage of the scheme.
Earlier, the government used to incur ₹6 crore per day. The expenditure increased to ₹8 crore now, he said.
ASHA represents about 300 of the 900 Aarogyasri network hospitals in the State.
Calls to reach Dr. Murali Krishna went unanswered.
