Apollo Hospitals set to join Ayushman Bharat in Tier II and III cities: Report

Apollo Hospital Chennai

Apollo Hospitals will join the Ayushman Bharat scheme in Tier II and III cities and has allocated five percent of its bed capacities towards the free healthcare programme for the poor, Managing Director Suneeta Reddy told the Business Standard.

The hospital chain, however, will not participate in the programme in metro cities till the rates for surgeries and treatments are raised.

“Hospital associations are in a dialogue with the Centre on new pricing guidelines for the scheme. Government rates do not cover the costs for some of the surgeries under the programme,” Reddy said.

She said that Apollo’s participation was still being tested and was underway in states where local health schemes had been subsumed in the central programme.

This move by Apollo is significant given that prominent hospital chains in the country have given the scheme a miss. Notably, Medanta Hospital signed onto the programme in early September.