Network hospitals unrelenting; set to stop services across state

Hyderabad: Despite an appeal from the Aarogyasri Trust CEO Uday Kumar to continue the Aarogyasri services, the Telangana Aarogyasri Network Hospitals Association (TANHA) is firm on stopping the services in their hospital from midnight on Tuesday.

The TANHA representatives have been demanding payment of dues which were around Rs 1,400 crore. The TANHA has alleged that there was a huge delay in payment of the dues from the government. This decision comes after several rounds of discussions with the government officials last month. The TANHA representatives said that Rs 1400 crore was to be paid to small and medium private hospitals through Aarogyasri services. The association said that no positive announcement was received from the government so far despite assurance from the health minister on this hence they had to resort to suspension of services.

The Private Hospitals Association stated in a statement that due to lack of funds, the hospitals were not in a position to run them. It is reported that there were about 400 hospitals on the list of hospitals that need to receive bills. The management were complaining that the government had not been paying cash to the hospitals for the last year.

However, the hospital management said that they issued an ultimatum to the government on this issue on August 31. They made it clear to the government that they would stop the services from midnight on that day. It said that the Health Minister C Damodar Raja Narsimha stepped in and spoke to the Finance Minister and promised to release the funds. However, it was revealed that they were going on strike as the funds were not received so far.