Health services in Jharkhand are in a state of collapse

Ranchi: Payments for the services provided by more than 250 hospitals in Jharkhand under the PMJAY/ MMJAY scheme have been stopped for the last 4 months, and despite repeated meetings with the concerned officials, no action has been taken.

Due to the indifference of the government and officials, these hospitals are now completely unable to provide their services.

In a meeting held on this issue under the aegis of AHPI today, it was informed that the Executive Director-NRHM has stopped their payment. The central government flags hospitals contracted with PMJAY/MMJAY from time to time as a part of regular feedback, and this information is given to the state government.

After this, the state government inspects and investigates these flagged hospitals to see if there is any irregularity or fraud. Action is taken against hospitals where irregularities are found.

The Enforcement Directorate had sought a list of such hospitals from the state government, and in the past years, the contract of 3 hospitals was canceled after fraud was found in them. Despite this, payments to all other hospitals have been stopped for the last 4 months, even though there were no irregularities in these.

In such a situation, stopping payments to other hospitals without any proof of fault is completely unfair. All these hospitals are clean – that is why the state government is continuously giving them permission to provide their services and treat patients.

It should be noted that under MMJAY, treatment of every patient is allowed only after TPA and NHA approval. Forcing all these patients to provide services as per MmJAY and then not making payment – what kind of justice is this?

AHPI appeals to the Honorable Chief Minister to immediately intervene and restore the payments that have been stopped without any valid reason, so that the people of Jharkhand do not have to wander from door to door for health services.