Punjab owes PGI Rs 13 cr under Ayushman Bharat

Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 14

The Punjab Government is struggling to run the Ayushman Bharat insurance scheme as it is staggering the settlement of pending dues to the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGI), a major tertiary care hospital.

The state owes over Rs 13 crore to the PGI as on date under the insurance scheme. Within a span of a year, the PGI has treated over 14,000 patients from Punjab under the insurance scheme.

On July 31, the institute had stopped treating patients from Punjab under the scheme after the dues accumulated to Rs 16 crore for seven months.

Past trouble

• 14K Punjab patients treated by PGI under Ayushman Bharat in 1 year
• Rs 16-crore dues accrued over seven months, forcing PGI to stop taking patients in July
• 3,715 state patients treated since Aug 4, when PGI resumed services
• Rs 20 cr paid by state to the PGI, but dues have piled up to Rs 13 crore

However, the Punjab Government had requested the institute authorities to resume treatment after promising release of dues, after which the PGI had started taking back patients from the state on August 4.

Since August 4, as many as 3,715 patients from Punjab have availed themselves of treatment under the insurance scheme and the dues have accrued to Rs 13 crore (Rs 13,91,11,222).

The Punjab Government has so far paid Rs 20 crore (Rs 20,03,52,826) to the PGI under the scheme. However, the dues are piling up due to new admissions. Even the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, had stopped treating patients under the scheme in March after the dues exceeded Rs 2.3 crore.

The services were resumed only after Punjab paid Rs 86 lakh to the GMCH-32 in August. The hospital has in November again deferred elective surgeries scheduled for Punjab patients after dues exceeded Rs 4 crore.

The Ayushman Bharat Mukh Mantri Sehat Bima Yojana was launched on August 20, 2019. It is an entitlement-based scheme giving health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year. Under the scheme, cashless and paperless treatment is available at government and empanelled private hospitals.

Rs 4 cr due towards GMCH

The GMCH-32 stopped treating Ayushman patients in March after dues exceeded Rs 2.3 crore. Services were resumed after Punjab paid Rs 86 lakh in August. Again in November, elective surgeries have been deferred after dues exceeded Rs 4 crore.

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