The flagship healthcare scheme of the Andhra Pradesh government, Aarogyasri, which provides corporate medical facilities with affordable prices for common men, is likely to be suspended in all private hospitals throughout the state from Wednesday as the government hasn’t reimbursed the pending bills worth 1500 crores since August last year. The last time the government released funds was way back in July 2023 for a meager 50 crores to clear the bills. Since then, not a single rupee has been released by Jagan Mohan Reddy’s government.
Despite repeated requests by the AP Speciality Hospitals Association to clear the pending bills to ensure continuity of the scheme, the state government turned a deaf year due to the lack of funds in its coffers. The association has now given an ultimatum to release funds by May 22nd, failing which the services will be halted across all private hospitals in the state. They wrote a letter to the CEO of Aarogyasri, Lakshmi Shah, about the deadline and also made it clear that all services under the scheme will cease henceforth.
The association has been requesting the government revise rates for various healthcare services due to the rising medical costs and operational costs of several treatments. But the state government didn’t pay any heed to these requests. The Network Hospitals Association has already stated earlier this month that hospitals cannot continue to treat patients without the release of funds.
Sources close to the government claimed that there are no funds at present. Only after the formation of a new government and the June 4th results are there likely to be positive developments with these funds. No official from the government has commented on this issue so far.
Coincidentally, the same is the case in Telangana. As the government hasn’t yet released the pending 1200 crore bills, some hospitals are turning away patients as they are unable to bear the operational costs.