Private hospitals and dialysis centres empanelled under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY)/SEHAT scheme in Jammu and Kashmir have raised concerns over prolonged delays in reimbursement, claiming that payments due to them have remained pending for the past eight months.
The hospital owners have also raised concerns over the functioning of the State Health Agency (SHA), which implements the scheme in J&K, claiming that salaries of its district-level staff have not been released for the past four months.
According to the private hospital representatives, incentives and TA/DA payments of SHA staff have also remained pending since 2022, raising questions over the agency’s financial position and its ability to ensure timely payments to empanelled healthcare providers.
“After releasing a mere 10–15 per cent of the outstanding dues about a month ago, payments have again been stopped. If the implementing agency is unable to pay salaries to its own district staff for four months and incentives for years, it raises serious concerns about the availability of funds with the SHA,” a private hospital owner said.
The hospital owners said private healthcare facilities were continuing to provide cashless treatment to beneficiaries under the scheme despite the mounting arrears, with many facilities relying on loans and other sources of credit to meet operational expenses.
They said delayed reimbursements were putting increasing pressure on hospitals to meet salaries of doctors, nurses and other staff, besides maintaining essential services, particularly dialysis facilities.
The situation, they warned, could become more critical for dialysis centres, where uninterrupted treatment is essential and operational costs remain high.
The private hospital owners have appealed to the Lieutenant Governor and the Commissioner Secretary, Health and Medical Education Department, to intervene and ensure immediate release of the pending reimbursements.
They warned that if payments were not released within a week, several private hospitals, particularly dialysis centres, could face a serious financial crisis, potentially affecting the continuity of services to beneficiaries under the scheme.
