Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Private hospitals threaten to stop CGHS treatment

Corporate hospitals across the country have threatened to stop cashless treatment to lakhs of Central Government employees from January 1. This will impact about 45 lakh employees of the Central Government and public sector agencies who are benefiting from the insurance scheme.
Protesting against “unviable” rates being given to them under the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), the Association of Healthcare Providers (India) (AHPI) has said that it will give three months’ time to the Government to revise the rates.
“After that we will stop all cashless services at our hospitals. We will, however, continue to provide services on paying cash (at the hospital rates). They can seek reimbursement later,’’ said Alex Thomas, an AHPI leader.
PRICE CORRECTION
Representatives of about 100 corporate hospitals held a meeting here on Saturday to discuss the challenges they face with regard to CGHS cases. AHPI said the Government should come out with a scientific method to arrive at proper packages for various treatments.
“They have not revised the tariff for various procedures for years, while the cost of operations has gone up significantly,” said Bhaskara Rao, President of the Andhra Pradesh Speciality Hospitals Association and Chief Executive Officer of Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences.
The Association will submit a memorandum to the Centre through CGHS authorities, demanding a hike in tariff for several packages.
Deviprasad Shetty, Chairman of Narayana Hrudayalaya, said hospitals are not being paid on time, and that the payments are below the actual cost (of procedures).
When asked about the alleged malpractices and inflation of bills by corporate hospitals, both Thomas and Rao said that all such violations should be probed into.
source : The Hindu BusinessLine

Cabinet grounds India Post bank plans....By Mail Today | Yahoo Finance India
=========================

The cabinet has rejected the India Post proposal for starting commercial banking services on the ground that it does not have the expertise to handle banking operations as a result of which the venture was not likely to be viable.

Top government sources said the proposal for starting commercial banking services by India Post that was aimed at enhancing financial inclusion through the wide network of the organization has been dropped by the cabinet after the finance ministry expressed reservations over the proposal.


The proposal needed an immediate transfusion of Rs 1,900 crore by the government.

However, the postal department has a poor financial track record. It has piled up huge losses over the last 11 years and has been losing badly to private couriers. India Post reported a loss of Rs 6,346 crore in fiscal 2011-12 which weighed against its credibility.

However, India Post is doing well on the savings front. Its outstanding balance under the Post Office Savings Scheme stood at Rs 6.05 lakh crore on March 31, 2013. This is half the deposits of State Bank of India and double that of the largest private lender ICICI Bank.

The postal department is one of 26 contenders for banking licenses. It had moved the proposal to the cabinet in order to enable it to meet the financial eligibility criteria of the Reserve Bank of India for new bank licenses to be issued by January next year.

India Post needs the government’s permission for the Rs 700 crore capital that is needed to set up the bank if it gets a licence. It will then require an additional Rs 1,200 crore in the first five years of its operations.

Unfortunately, over half of the population in rural India, do not have a bank account and the proposal for a postal bank would have a negative impact on government’s push to financial inclusion. The postal department has close to 1.55 lakh offices across country, with 1,39,040 in rural areas.

India Post reported a loss of Rs 6,346 crore in fiscal 2011-12.
http://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/cabinet-grounds-india-post-bank-plans-074832082.html


No comments:

Post a Comment