Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has accused the BJP government of playing with its own Ayushman Yojana and risking the lives and health of the public. He said the government owes a large sum of money to private hospitals, which are now refusing to treat patients under the scheme.
Hooda said the government seems to have forgotten about the Ayushman Yojana after launching it as the government owes Rs 400 crore to private hospitals and has not paid these for a long time. Due to this, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has announced that it will stop treating Ayushman cardholders from August 7.
He said this is not the first time this has happened. “Ever since this scheme has been started, the payment of private hospitals is delayed every time. Due to this, hospitals refuse to treat Ayushman card holders and patients struggle to get treatment. This is poses a direct threat to the lives of people,” the former Chief Minister stated.
Recently, the government has cut down on the Ayushman scheme and said private hospitals will no longer treat five diseases under it. These include cataract surgery, uterus surgery, gall bladder treatment, vomiting and diarrhea, and respiratory illnesses. The IMA expressed surprise at the government’s decision and criticised the move, saying that instead of paying private hospital dues, the government is cutting treatment for some of the most common illnesses.
Hooda said the BJP government's policies show no concern for the lives of common people, and that its mismanagement has ruined the state’s healthcare system. “In 11 years, the BJP has not established a single medical college and neither has any big health university, institute or hospital been built. The health system has been ruined to such an extent that today there are neither doctors nor facilities in government hospitals. This is the reason why people were handed over to private hospitals by running schemes like Ayushman, but now this government is not able to run even that scheme properly,” he said.
He recalled that during the Congress government, one new health university and six new medical colleges (in Karnal, Mewat, Khanpur, Mahendragarh, Bhiwani, and Faridabad) were established in the state, along with AIIMS-2 and the National Cancer Institute at Badhsa. Ten national super-specialty institutes were also approved under AIIMS-2. In addition, the Congress built 641 new rural hospitals, CPCs, and PHCs. Whereas the BJP has failed to provide adequate staff and facilities at these institutions, he added.
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