Empanelled hospitals reluctant to admit patients; government promises to release funds soon

The sizeable purse allocated to welfare schemes ahead of the Assembly election in 2024 has impacted many mainstay government schemes.

- Surendra P Gangan

MUMBAI:

It has now come to the fore that a cash-strapped Maharashtra government owes over ₹923 crore to 1,144 private hospitals empanelled under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MJPJAY), the public health insurance scheme that covers over 28 million financially underprivileged families. In a cascading effect, this has led to a reluctance among private hospitals to admit patients under the scheme.

The impact on the health scheme is the result of the government's budget cut by at least 20% from the overall ₹8.2 lakh crore allocated for FY 2024-25.

The state which spends ₹3100 crore annually on the scheme, has not settled bills of many private hospitals since July 2024. Over 500,000 people are its beneficiaries for which the government incurs the annual expenditure of over ₹1,800 crore; the remaining funds are spent on establishment costs, salaries and remunerations of agents appointed to help patients. The state government has paid ₹815.74 crore, leaving bills of ₹923.58 crore yet to be paid.