Surgeries delayed for health card holders

Vizianagaram: NTR Vaidya Seva healthcard holders are struggling to get treatment as inpatients and even in undergoing surgeries at the private hospitals. The private hospitals say that the government is not clearing their pending bills and they are not able to run their hospitals with huge financial burdens. 

Around 19 hospitals including four government and 15 private hospitals are providing healthcare services to people for 1,044 diseases. Even employees and working journalists are also being served under the scheme. The hospitals will treat the patients and perform surgeries and later they would submit the bills to government. 

Poor and the families living below the poverty line are availing the services and being treated for heart, kidney, orthopedics and many other diseases at free of cost. But the NTR Vaidya Seva Trust has stopped the clearing of pending bills to these hospitals. Many hospitals in the district are yet to get over Rs 40 lakh to Rs 1 crore dues based on the services they provided. As per estimate, around 2,000 patients are being admitted in these hospitals per month and being treated for their ailments. 

The hospitals are not showing enthusiasm to treat these cases as they are not getting bills on time. The common man was worrying about their health and searching for money to get treatment in corporate hospital. The government has released some part of amount to hospitals in October to woo them.

As part of it, the nursing homes were paid 25 per cent of their pending bills. But now again they started their protest and demanding the patients to pay the bills. K Narayana Rao, a heart patient of Cheepurupalli, told “I was told to go for a surgery in November and so far I was given medicines and now it is the time for surgery but the hospitals say that they won't perform surgery as their pending bills are not cleared.

Now I am worrying about my life.” NTR Vaidya Seva Services district coordinator Dr K Sairam said the government was giving top priority for public health and will release the bills soon.