Public hospitals in Kerala are paying a heavy price for the State government’s administrative inefficiency in running Ayushman Bharat-Karunya Arogya Suraksha Padhathi (KASP), the health insurance scheme covering nearly 42 lakh families.
The scheme that wins Kerala laurels from the Union Health Ministry every year for providing free medical treatment to the maximum number of people is draining the State’s coffers and leaving public hospitals severely short of funds. According to a statement by the government in the Assembly last week, it owes private and public hospitals ₹1,128.69 crore as reimbursement for free treatment given to KASP beneficiaries.
The State’s finances have been in the red for several months now. Public hospitals have been experiencing an acute shortage of drugs, consumables, and implants such as stents, as pending payments running into hundreds of crores have forced pharma companies to stop all supplies to public hospitals. Private hospitals are exiting the scheme in the face of mounting bills that the government is yet to reimburse.
