THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government has to pay
Rs 611.47 crore to government hospitals and Rs 20.53 crore to the private hospitals in the state under the Karunya Benevolent Fund (KBF) Scheme, reveals a CAG report on revenue receipts.
From 2011-12 to 2016-17, the government sanctioned treatment of 1,23,553 patients in government hospitals and 24,951 patients in private hospitals running up to a cost of Rs 1,603.90 crore and Rs 235.73 crore, respectively.
The CAG report has found that 62,435 claims requiring Rs 611.47 crore in government hospitals and 8,792 claims requiring Rs 20.53 crore in private hospitals were pending for disbursement. "The government has stated that it received a large number of applications under the
Karunya scheme and due to the shortage of budget provision, the pending claims could not be disbursed," said the report.
The audit report also found that 1,520 beneficiaries who were sanctioned funds for receiving treatment in designated hospitals did not undergo treatment in these hospitals. The treatment details of these patients were unavailable in these hospitals nor were any money spent on their accounts. However, funds were transferred to these hospitals during the period between 2012-2016. These funds should've been refunded to the KBF. The report also said there were instances of non-surrender of funds that were only partially used. In the audit conducted in four government hospitals, it has been revealed that in 3,142 cases out of 38,460 cases, utilisation was less than 20% of the amount transferred.
Even after a lapse of two to five years of disbursement, the unutilized amount of Rs 40.96 crore was kept in the KBF accounts of the hospitals, which was against the guidelines.
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