Kolkata: The state government is going to take stern action against private hospitals that won't provide adequate treatment to patients under the Swasthya Sathi scheme.
Ever since the scheme was introduced by the Mamata Banerjee government, a section of the private hospitals is creating obstacles in various ways. There were incidents reported where private hospitals indulged in corrupt practices and submitted false bills to the Health department. The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission has already taken steps against many private hospitals. It has also directed the private hospitals to charge patients rationally as per the guidelines.
According to Health department sources, the state government has been paying the bills within a stipulated time. Delay happens in payments only in disputed cases where bills are irrationally submitted.
Incidentally, an organisation of 20 private hospitals, Association of Hospitals of Eastern India, has recently written to state Health Secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam urging him to clear Swasthya Sathi dues.
The state government will not, however, tolerate any pressure given in this manner. According to state government sources, steps may be taken against the private hospitals not abiding by the government norms. Over nine crore people in Bengal have already been included under the Swasthya Sathi scheme out of which around 6-7 percent raise claims every year. As per mass insurance statistics, at most, around 6-7 percent of claims are made out of the total number of people enrolled under that particular health scheme. In case of the Swasthya Sathi scheme, around 2.5 lakh claims are raised every month on an average basis and the total claims in a year may go up to nearly 27-30 lakh, highly placed sources in the Health department said.
The state government had sanctioned over Rs 2,300 crore when the scheme was expanded to the entire population and the expenditure of the Swasthya Sathi remains under the allocated budget. If the total costs go up to Rs 2,600 crore, it can be assumed that some incidents of pilferage are happening, sources said.
More than 2.30 crore families have been covered under the scheme and 2,290 hospitals have been empanelled. The scheme was announced on February 25 in 2016 and officially launched by the Chief Minister on December 30 in 2016.