Doctors addressing a conference organised by APHICON – Tamil Nadu Chapter in Madurai on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: G. MOORTHY
“The reimbursement money given by the government for the treatment delivered to patients under the insurance schemes is not enough and we fear it would hamper the quality of treatment rendered to patients,” said doctors at Association of Healthcare Providers India (AHPI).
Speaking to press on the sidelines of conference organised by APHICON – Tamil Nadu Chapter here on Saturday, doctors said that about 70% of the money was reimbursed but that did not cover all the expenses, hospitals spent on treating a patient and this has resulted in the hospital bearing the brunt of loss.
Girdhar Gyani, Director General, AHPI, pointing out this, said that they were planning a representation to the governments to reach 100% imbursement for treatment carried out under the insurance schemes.
Followed by this, he said, the association’s prime aim was to join hands with all the private hospitals in the country to redress their grievances and chalk out plans to solve the problems by working together.
“As part of this, the conference organised in Madurai for the first time in Tamil Nadu has brought almost 500 participants, hospital representatives, individual doctors, students and others,” Dr. Gyan added.
Contradicting World Health Organisation’s recommendation of having 3.5 beds per every 1,000 population, many of the States like Bihar have only 0.3 bed per 1,000 population, said Alexander Thomas, Founder, AHPI.
Speaking on the lines of increasing demand for quality healthcare, he said that private hospital’s role was indispensable in delivering quality healthcare to the people.
“Moreover, while India spends around 2% of its GDP in health sector, private hospitals contribute 3% to the field making it 5%,” he added.
Above all, the health sector was rapidly changing in its development and its techniques, which required a considerable amount of spending, he said.
Mr. Thomas said that to expand specialised hospitals to tier-3 cities in the country, they would require some assistance from the governments to provide them land or at least help them in land acquisition.
“Since, there is a need for more number of specialists when more hospitals crop up in tier-3 cities, the number of admissions to medical colleges should be increased,” he noted.
In addition to their demand to increase the budget allocation for health sector, they also sought the intervention of government to form committee to decide on tariffs for the treatments, so that hospitals in the country could stick to that tariff, said the doctors.
While answering a question on whether the private hospitals would adhere to the fixed tariff as there were widespread complaints across the country about an exorbitant charging during COVID-19, doctors said that as the treatment and doctors’ expertise differ from hospital to hospital, they would have to negotiate with the committee keeping in mind all the factors.
