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.
Also known as the National Health Protection Scheme or the PM Jan Arogya Yojana, Ayushman Bharat is being implemented in 32 states and union territories. The scheme, which has enabled 4.6 million hospital treatments at Rs 7,000 crore, completed its first anniversary this month, the report said.
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