Revision of CGHS, Ayushman Bharat scheme rates on cards
New Delhi: With the repeated complaints by beneficiaries of Central Government Health Services (CGHS) and Ayushman Bharat scheme of getting step-motherly treatment at private empanelled healthcare centres, the Union Health Ministry has decided to hold a detailed dialogue with all the stakeholders, including representatives of private hospitals, to find out a workable solution of the contentious issue.
The prime agenda of the meeting, which is scheduled for November 16, is to discuss the proposal for revision of the charges fixed by the government for beneficiaries of CGHS and the Ayushman Bharat scheme. Last time, the CGHS rates were revised in the year 2014.
Notably, the Health Ministry has been receiving complaints about discrepancies in the services provided to CGHS beneficiaries. In most of the complaints, the beneficiaries have raised the issue of denial of procedural and radiological services by some of the multispecialty private hospitals.
It has also been brought to the notice of the Health Ministry that hospitals provide special preferences to non-CGHS patients while availing during admission and radiology facilities.
While talking to Millennium Post over the issue, Dr Girdhar Gyani, who represents private hospitals, said that the government must think about reviewing the CGHS charges to avoid any discrepancies in services to the beneficiaries of any government schemes.
"The government has fixed Rs 150 as consultation fee for CGHS beneficiaries to visit a specialist doctor at any private hospital, which is non-scientific as it must be revised to Rs 500. Since CGHS is a contributory scheme and government employees pay a fixed amount every month to avail the facility, it's quite possible to review the CGHS price slab," said Gyani, who is director general of the Association of Healthcare Providers (India).
"At the meeting, the body of private hospitals would demand setting up of an independent regulatory body for fixing the price slab for the CGHS and Ayushman Bharat scheme," he said, adding that there is a general perception among people that private hospitals are all there to make money, which is totally wrong.
"Similarly, the charges fixed by the government for the beneficiaries of the Ayushman Bharat scheme are totally unscientific. We would raise our demand to increase it up to 80 per cent of the treatment cost," Dr Gyani said, who has also served as secretary general at Quality Council of India.
Presently about 38.5 lakh beneficiaries are covered by CGHS in 74 cities all over India and the endeavour is to include more cities to improve the accessibility of the services.
