SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, April 19: The district health department and body of empanelled private nursing homes are face to face over the treatment of patients under the Ayushman Bharat health scheme.
Dhanbad civil surgeon (CS) Dr Shyam Kishore Kant today warned to take action under Clinical Establishment Act if the empanelled private nursing homes do not start the treatment of patients under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme.
Rattled by non-payment under the health scheme for the last six months, 25 empanelled private nursing homes in the district have stopped the treatment of patients under Ayushman Bharat Scheme since April 15. In Dhanbad, a total of 36 hospitals are empanelled of which 25 are private and over Rs 15 crores are due to the health department.
“Arrear payment of any nursing home has not been held up. The State government has been informed about the dues of private nursing homes. No doubt the payment has been delayed but it is under progress and will be done soon,” said the civil surgeon.
The civil surgeon while talking to media persons on Tuesday afternoon said that he will call a meeting with the private nursing homes over the issue so that treatment could be continued in the interest of patients. If they fail to do so, the health department will be forced to take action against them under Clinical Establishment Act.
However, the body of the empanelled private nursing homes rejected the charge of the civil surgeon and said that since the state government has not approved the names of doctors loaded in HEM Portal, they are compelled to stop the treatment.
Nursing homes are supposed to upload the names of doctors on the HEM Portal of the state government about their specialities in treatment. Only after approval from the government doctors, can they start treating patients.
“The civil surgeon should know that it is a failure on the part of the state government that private nursing homes have stopped treatment under Ayushman Bharat. For the last four weeks, the portal of the state government has not opened. So treatment is closed,” said the spokesperson of empanelled private nursing homes.
Private nursing home operators said that the health department is free to take action as they have no option but to shut down the establishment as it is not possible to run in charity. “Not only in Dhanbad but in the entire state private nursing homes have closed in non-payment,” they said.
