A public-private initiative providing insight on the handling of COVID-19 In India, a large difference in hospitalization charges has been found between the empaneled hospitals of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) in different parts of the country.
New findings reported by the NGO Jeevan Raksha indicate that the average hospitalization fee per beneficiary in Karnataka was Rs 11,055, while in Andhra Pradesh it was 2.6 times higher at Rs 28,452.
“We strongly believe that the National Health Authority (NHA) needs stronger financial controls to ensure that every rupee of taxpayers spent on the welfare of the financially poor is used effectively and efficiently. The report said that there is an urgent need to investigate the reason for such large variation in hospitalization charges among PM-JAY empaneled hospitals in neighboring states.
The Jeevan Raksha report also states that the results of treatment under the PM-JAY scheme are not being recorded as many states have not reported deaths during treatment.
“Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are not disclosing deaths of PM-JAY beneficiaries with the National Health Authority (NHA). 10,812 crore has been sanctioned for hospital treatment till August 2021. It is surprising that the NHA has no system to capture the treatment outcome of PM-JAY beneficiaries in the states,” the report said.
As part of the ongoing analysis of the PM-JAY scheme – based on data collected through RTI queries, Jeevan Raksha scrutinized the list of top 25 empaneled hospitals under PM-JAY. The maximum number of beneficiaries has been reported. The report said that these 25 hospitals are in Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Gujarat.
A total of 1.1 million PM-JAY beneficiaries have been admitted for treatment in these 25 hospitals, out of which 44,700 beneficiaries have died during treatment so far (till August 2021).
Of the 1.1 million PM-JAY beneficiaries admitted for treatment in these 25 hospitals, 0.6 million are admitted in nine hospitals in Kerala, accounting for 56 per cent of the total admissions.
Most of the hospitals (nine out of 25) reporting high incidence of deaths among PM-JAY beneficiaries are also in Kerala. The report said that out of 44,700 PM-JAY beneficiaries who have died during treatment in these 25 hospitals so far, 19,441 deaths have occurred in Kerala, which is 44 percent.
“Further, when we closely examine the data of these 25 hospitals with the Covid data of the respective states, we get a strong impression that some of these hospitals, especially the ones that were designated for Covid, have increased the total may be reported. The number of PM-JAY beneficiaries treated for COVID in these hospitals as well as the number of COVID deaths,” says the Jeevan Raksha report. “Therefore, there is an urgent need to strengthen the process and system to implement and monitor best ethical practices in PM-JAY empaneled hospitals,” the report suggested.
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