The private hospitals’ representatives of Uttarakhand has expressed inability to cater to patients from outside the state, especially from Uttar Pradesh. This happened on day two of the first official meeting of representatives of the state’s private hospitals empanelled under the Atal Ayushman scheme and authorities were planning to implement the scheme in Uttarakhand.

According to the Atal Ayushman authorities, over 4,000 cases from across India, including over 60% cases from UP, were treated in various hospitals in Uttarakhand. And their dues are pending since months and the authorities of concerned states are not even responding to their queries.

Fifty-five private hospitals were invited for the workshop on the second day, however representatives of only 15 hospitals attended the workshop. The authorities said that of the 80 private hospitals and medical colleges empanelled in the scheme, half of them were invited on Monday and the remaining were asked to attend the workshop on Tuesday.

Official from a private hospital in Haridwar said that payment around Rs 3.8 lakh, from nine cases are still pending at the hospital. Another hospital from the same district also raised a similar concern and conveyed inability to treat patients from UP.

An official from another private hospital in Haridwar who didn’t wish to be named said that in the beginning, they tried to pursue the matter with Atal Ayushman authorities in UP but they didn’t respond to their emails. Then they tried to meet them personally in Lucknow but no one turned up. Haridwar district is closest to several western UP cities, including Amroha, Saharanpur and Najibabad, so they get a lot of patients from there. If they continue treating patients from UP, they will soon go bankrupt and therefore don’t want any patients from there.

In the meantime, Dilip Kotia, chairman of Uttarakhand health agency, insisted the hospitals to not turn down patients from neighboring states. He said that they will take up the matter at the earliest and the hospitals can directly write to National Health Authority (NHA). Until then, they urged the hospitals to not turn down any patient and ensure proper treatment to everyone.

State director of Atal Ayushman scheme Abhishek Tripathi confirmed that Uttarakhand has already treated over 4,000 patients from across the country and not many claims are pending with them. He further said that they won’t be able to confirm the exact number of cases with pending dues, but are sure that it won’t be more that 3% as they try to clear all claims within 10 days.