Telangana hospitals to suspend services from Tuesday midnight over unpaid Aarogyasri dues

Healthcare services under the Aarogyasri scheme in Telangana are likely to be disrupted as over 400 private hospitals threaten to suspend operations due to unpaid dues. TANHA President Dr. V. Rakesh highlighted the financial strain on small and medium hospitals and called for urgent intervention from Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.

Hyderabad: With no talks between the State government and private hospitals to resolve outstanding issues on Tuesday, healthcare services for patients under the Aarogyasri scheme are expected to be affected across Telangana from Tuesday midnight.

“More than 400 private hospitals are on the verge of shutting down due to pending Aarogyasri medical bills, which have been unpaid for several months,” Dr. V. Rakesh, president, Telangana Network Hospitals Association for Aarogyasri (TANHA) said.

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Dr Rakesh pointed out that a majority of the small and medium-sized private hospitals are struggling financially, which is preventing TANHA from providing quality services to Aarogyasri patients.

TANHA urged Aarogyasri authorities to take up the issue with Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and Dr. Rakesh stated “There is a need for a high-level discussion. Private hospitals cannot continue participating in the Aarogyasri scheme until both financial and non-financial issues are addressed.”

While the State government has not yet held talks with the hospital managements, Aarogyasri Healthcare Trust CEO Uday Kumar has appealed to them to continue providing services as usual and withdraw their decision to suspend them.

Uday Kumar said the government is open to considering the other requests made by the hospital management. He pointed out that the new government, upon taking office, increased charges for 1,375 medical treatments by an average of over 22 percent, and the addition of new packages means the government is spending an additional Rs 487.29 crore on patient care.