Finance Minister T. Harish Rao has assured the Legislative Assembly that the government would soon release ₹160 crore dues to private hospitals under the Aarogyasri health scheme.
The government had released ₹4,138 crore for Aarogyasri over the past seven years and only ₹160 crore was due for release. In addition, steps are under way for development of ICU wards and ventilators for paediatric care as part of health infrastructure improvement.
The Minister was replying to a query raised by MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi during the Question Hour in the Legislative Assembly on Monday. Mr. Owaisi expressed concern over the increasing cases of dengue and malaria due to the mosquito menace and wanted the government to initiate necessary steps to check them.
Mr. Harish Rao said the government was taking up regular precautionary measures to control vector-borne diseases and 43 labs had been roped in for testing dengue, chikungunya and other viral fevers. The spread of dengue was lesser this year compared to the previous years. As against the 6,362 cases reported in 2018 and 13,361 cases in 2019, as many as 4,694 cases had been reported during the current year so far.
“There is incidence, but not widespread,” the Minister said. He informed that the State Cabinet had approved ₹133 crore recently for the improvement of paediatric health care and the amount would be effectively utilised for strengthening the infrastructure.
Mr. Owaisi lamented that though treatment for dengue had been covered under Aarogyasri, private hospitals were not admitting patients owing to huge dues owed by the government. Some private hospitals were also charging exorbitant amounts for treating the patients. The Minister, however, asserted that necessary measures would be taken to check the hospitals from charging excessively. “We will review and monitor the charges levied by private hospitals,” he said.
The MIM floor leader also expressed concern about the D2 variant of dengue which was more severe and wanted the government to take a serious view of the situation. “The staff in Basti Dawakhanas and other medical institutions are busy with COVID-19 vaccination. Vaccination is important, but other health issues are equally important,” he said.
To a query on the absence of infrastructure in government hospitals like Niloufer Hospital and Fever Hospital (Ronald Ross Institute of Tropical Diseases), Mr. Harish Rao said a delegation of senior officials would be deputed to study the conditions in the hospitals and recommend measures for strengthening the infrastructure there.