157 restricted medical procedures can now be availed at pvt hospitals

According to officials, the treatments, most of which were emergency and high-risk medical procedures, have been made available at empanelled private hospitals as “they could not be carried out in all public health-care set-ups”.

Beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) scheme can now avail certain treatments at private hospitals that only government hospitals were authorised to provide earlier.

Most of the treatments include emergency and high-risk medical procedures. (HT Archives)

The Haryana government, on Monday, de-reserved 157 out of 303 treatment packages that were reserved for government health-care providers under the scheme since it was launched in September 2018. A total of 1,350 medical packages are fixed under the scheme.

According to officials, the treatments, most of which were emergency and high-risk medical procedures, have been made available at empanelled private hospitals as “they could not be carried out in all public health-care set-ups”.

“The procedures were made available for private empanelled hospitals as many government-run hospitals lack the equipment or trained staff to carry them out. The health department had also been receiving complaints from beneficiaries due to the non-availability of these services at private hospitals,” said Dr MP Singh, the district coordinator for the scheme.

Other treatments made available under the scheme included high-risk delivery procedures, hip replacement surgeries, amputations, glaucoma surgeries, and squint correction treatments.

So far, 19 of the 140 private hospitals in the district eligible under the scheme have empanelled themselves, as per the district health department. Around 32,000 out of the 80,000 households have been given gold cards under the AB-PMJAY scheme that they can show at any of the empanelled government or private hospitals to avail benefits under it. However, only 482 individuals have sought treatment till date.

Officials also said that lack of awareness about the scheme is responsible for the low turnout of beneficiaries to avail the scheme. “Many people haven’t turned up to get their gold cards made, as they aren’t aware of the process. Health workers are conducting door-to-door sessions in areas that haven’t seen much participation,” said Singh.