Around 10% of hosps under Ayushman inactive in state

Indore: In Madhya Pradesh, 10.10% of total 980 hospitals empanelled under Ayushman Bharat scheme are inactive. The records showed that of those, 25 became inactive in the last six months.
The information came to fore through a dashboard of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY)—Ayushman Bharat maintained by National Health Agency (NHA), the nodal agency for implementation of the flagship health scheme.
Among the neighbouring states, the inactive hospitals in Uttar Pradesh were 5.83% of total 3548 empanelled hospitals. In Gujarat, it was 4.66% of 2507 hospitals, 0.6% of 1560 in Chhattisgarh, and only 0.09% of 1002 empanelled hospitals in Maharashtra, the records showed.
Rajasthan, with 54.01% inactive hospitals of a total 1918 empanelled, has maximum such health facilities under the scheme across the country, showed the records. However, this can be attributed to preference given by public to the state government’s health coverage scheme.
A senior health official requesting anonymity said, “There are several small, empanelled hospitals that have stopped admitting and treating patients under the Ayushman Bharat scheme because of delay in payment of claims. Hence these hospitals became inactive, defeating the purpose of the scheme to provide health services at the doorsteps to the beneficiaries.”
State Ayushman CEO, Aditi Garg told TOI, “The inactive hospitals are referred to those that have not raised any claims after being empanelled.”
Garg added, “There are two types of hospitals — inactive for two weeks to six months, and over six months. For the hospitals inactive for six months, the reasons are stated to be technical issues like unavailability of biometrics and doctors among others. For the hospitals inactive for over six months, we have written to NHA seeking response, as those include several hospitals run by the Union government.”
She further said, “We are doing what is required to motivate them for raising claims and treating patients.”
In southern states like Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka, the inactive empanelled hospitals are at 21.42%, 35.57%, 35.37% and 4.66% respectively, showed records.