NEW DELHI: Some major private hospitals like Fortis, Apollo, Medanta and Narayana Health have expressed concern over the government’s ambitious ‘Ayushman Bharat’ fixing prices of some critical procedures, saying the rates are not viable for them.
Senior executives from some private hospitals met officials of Niti Aayog and health ministry on Friday over this issue following representations by various industry forums, sources said. “It appears that, overall, no scientific basis has been applied to arrive at the rates. Under these conditions, you may kindly appreciate that private healthcare providers would not be able to sustain themselves in providing quality healthcare unless the rates are reasonable and scientifically arrived at,” said a letter from Association of Healthcare Providers (India) to the CEO of Ayushman Bharat, Indu Bhushan.
However, the government maintains that it finalised the prices carefully. “The rates are decided nationally. We have also given states some flexibility to change the rates by up to 10%. Moreover, there are incentives for private players of up to 30%,” Bhushan said.
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