SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, April 26: Around 400 poor patients registered under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme in Dhanbad are perishing in lack of dialysis. This is due to the blame game between the state health department and private nursing homes.
Treatment, as well as a dialysis of patients under Ayushman Bharat, has been completely closed in registered private nursing homes of Dhanbad in a lack of premium payment to the insurance company since April 14.
The state government claims to have released the fund but private nursing homes say they got merely 5% of the total amount.
“Ayushman Scheme is the only scope for surviving. So, in this condition, we have no option but to die as private hospitals charge Rs 1500 to Rs 2500 per dialysis, and district Sadar hospital charges Rs 1,048. That too is beyond the pocket of poor patients who have to go dialysis twice a week as per doctors’ recommendation,” said Mukesh Sinha, a patient who goes to dialysis thrice a week.
Dialysis is also done free of cost at Shahid Nirmal Mahto Medical College Hospital (SNMMCH) Dhanbad. The hospital has three functional units and 12 patients are provided dialysis in a day.
“It is impossible to get the chance for dialysis there as a long queue of listed patients is always found there,” said a patient.
A lady patient had gone yesterday to SNMMCH for dialysis when her body swelled in lack of routine dialysis but due to the long queue, she had to return in the evening.
The listed patients are making rounds of the deputy commissioner (DC) office to the civil surgeon (CS) office of the health department but to no avail.
Meanwhile, Dhanbad private nursing homes association (registered with Ayushman), when contacted, denied that they have stopped treatment and dialysis of patients under Ayushman Bharat.
“Of course payment of premium is held up but the main reason is that the state health department has not allowed us to treat, rather it is issuing a threat to save its skin from the blame,” said association members.
The association said that though the state government has released funds to the insurance company against the bills. But the insurance company has paid merely 5% percent to the registered private health centres. The total due premium is Rs 271 crores but the government has released merely Rs 94 crores. “So blame on nursing homes is baseless,” said an association member.
“A delegation of dialysis patients met Dhanbad Deputy Commissioner Sandip Singh and civil surgeon Dr Shyam Kant Kishore last week. Both of them assured to sort out the problem soon but the crisis is still intact,” said Mukesh Sinha.
