Srinagar, Oct 24: For 60-year-old Muhammad Sultan, who is suffering from End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), getting timely dialysis is the only lifeline.
He travels more than 60 km every week from his hometown in Baramulla to Srinagar to avail services at a popular private hospital in Srinagar.
But, Sultan and other dialysis patients feel dejected, as their golden cards are not being accepted by Khyber Hospital in Srinagar, where they avail these services.
They said that despite hospitals being empanelled to provide cashless treatment to patients with Golden Cards, their cards were not being accepted.
Ayushman Bharat provides free health coverage at the secondary and tertiary levels to the poor.
So far, NHA has been empanelling private hospitals on specific criteria.
Empanelment means any identified beneficiary can walk into an empanelled private hospital and get free treatment of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year.
The attendants of patients said that these benefits were a big relief for the patients of ESRD.
They said that the doctors usually recommend at least three dialysis a week and the overall cost goes up with extra medications and required medical check-ups.
“We belong to a lower-middle-class family. This scheme brings a big relief for kidney patients. But with the hospital refusing to accept our Golden Cards, we feel dejected,” said a patient.
However, hospital authorities said that the contract with Ayushman Bharat regarding dialysis services at the hospital was over now.
“The Khyber Hospital is empanelled under the scheme since 2018. We have already provided services to thousands of patients. But the contract is over,” said an employee at the hospital.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (PM-JAY) Sanjiv M Gadkar told Greater Kashmir that he would look into the matter.
“If this hospital was empanelled in 2018, I will check the reasons for de-empanelment,” he said.
Ayushman Bharat Yojna is a centrally-sponsored scheme that gives free medical treatment to economically-poor patients across India.
The scheme was launched by the Prime Minister in September 2018.
Under the scheme, around 20,000 hospitals were empanelled to provide free medical treatment. Thousands of patients in J&K have received Ayushman cards to avail the benefits of the scheme.
As per the available data, to date, 75 lakh Golden Cards have been issued in J&K.