Govt ‘owes’ Rs 500 cr to hospitals under CGHS

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New Delhi, March 9

The umbrella body of private healthcare providers on Wednesday wrote to the Health Ministry, flagging massive dues under the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) and urging immediate payment.

Citing data from 61 private CGHS empanelled hospitals across the country, the Association of Healthcare Providers (India) said a whopping Rs 500 crore was due for payment by the government.

In the letter, written to DG, CGHS, Alok Saxena, Director General, AHPI, Girdhar Gyani and AHPI President Alexander Thomas said the scheme was losing its sheen due to payment pile up and was making several healthcare facilities financially unsustainable.

“Inordinate delay in reimbursement, besides low rates, which have not been revised since 2014, are key anomalies of the scheme. Hospitals have signed agreements effective from October 1, 2014, whereby 70 per cent payment to them has to be made within five working days upon submission of bills by hospitals. In none of the cases have payments been made within such stipulated time,” the AHPI letter says.

The association said hospitals had to wait for months to get their dues cleared. “Hospitals are forced to avoid or refuse beneficiaries for treatment due to these anomalies,” Gyani said. The AHPI submitted to the ministry a list of 61 private CGHS empanelled hospitals across India, which have Rs over 500 crore outstanding dues.

The letter mentions outstanding CGHS dues of some of the top hospital chains as follows — Apollo Hospitals (over Rs 62 crore dues); Fortis Healthcare (over Rs 67 crore dues); Max Healthcare (over Rs 192 crore dues) and Narayana Health (over Rs 29 crore dues).