New Delhi: India’s largest body of doctors claimed on Tuesday that the Centre’s proposed National Health Protection Scheme that seeks to reimburse hospitals for cashless services to patients may "eliminate small and medium hospitals" through unrealistic reimbursement rates.
The reimbursement rates proposed under the NHPS are "very low" and will make it "impractical" to provide quality services, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) said, releasing figures from its own costing exercise that IMA officials say are closer to reality.
The NHPS, to be implemented either through insurance companies or non-profit trusts, will pay up to Rs 5 lakh per year for hospitalisation costs to over 10 crore poor and vulnerable households across India. Empanelled hospitals will be reimbursed for medical and surgical services.
The IMA has shared its costing exercise with the Union health ministry, iterating its demand for an upward revision of reimbursement rates. "The government appears to have fixed the costs arbitrarily without any scientific costing," IMA national president Ravi Wankhedkar said in a statement.
The NHPS rates are significantly lower than the figures that the IMA has cited. The NHPS has, for instance, proposed Rs 9,000 for a Caesarean section, Rs 20,000 for a hysterectomy, and Rs 80,000 for a knee replacement. But the IMA said its costing exercise conducted last month in Tamil Nadu has calculated the costs as Rs 57,000 for a Caesarean section, Rs 54,000 for a hysterectomy, and Rs 144,000 for a knee replacement.
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