Private hospital struggle as PMC fails to clear pending dues
Dr H K Sale, executive director of Noble Hospital and chairman of AOH Pune said this delay has been going on for over six months
The Association of Hospitals (AOH), Pune has expressed concerns over the delay in payments from Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for providing treatment to patients treated under the Urban Poor Health Scheme (UPHS) and Contributory Health Scheme (CHS). Despite several requests for the past several months the civic body has failed to clear the pending dues, claim the association.
The AOH is an association of big hospitals in the city that includes hospitals like Ruby Hall Clinic, KEM, Noble Hospital, Jehangir Hospital, Poona Hospital, KEM Hospital, Inlaks and Budhrani Hospital. The civic body has 140 hospitals empanelled under the scheme. The PMC owes dues amounting to ₹25 crores to ₹ 30 crores.
Dr H K Sale, executive director of Noble Hospital and chairman of AOH Pune said this delay has been going on for over six months.
“The PMC last year gave reason of elections for the dues, stating the files are yet to be checked and cleared. The AOH last month requested a meeting with the PMC, however, the meeting was cancelled by the civic body, giving some excuse,” he said.
Sale further informed that the issue was discussed at the monthly meeting by the representatives of the hospitals.
“The hospitals are being forced to continue treatment without any assurance of reimbursement. However, the hospitals will be forced to stop treating patients under the scheme,” he said.
Dr Sanjeev Wavare, assistant health officer at PMC stated that the payment process is ongoing. “Bills of around ₹ 20 crores are yet to be cleared by PMC. We are working on that and once the scrutiny is complete, the payments will be cleared. However, this is a tedious and time-consuming process, and hospitals should keep some patients and cooperate with us,” Wavare explained.