JAMMU: As the state government has been allegedly adopting delay tactics in clearing cases under the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) scheme to provide financial assistance to poor patients, the Union Health Ministry has directed all Central government medical institutions to directly refer the cases to the RAN headquarters to give timely aid to the needy people.
The Union Health Ministry issued an order on January 1, directing all Central government hospitals and institutions to refer the cases where the amount of financial treatment exceeds Rs 1,00,00 to the RAN headquarters instead of referring them to the State Illness Assistance Fund (SIAF).
Earlier for financial assistance between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 1.5 lakh, the Central government hospitals used to refer all cases to the state government. The J&K Government has set up the SIAF to provide financial assistance to patients referred by Central government hospitals and institutions.
“During our meeting with the state authorities, it came to our notice that a number of cases of needy people were yet to be cleared and the local authorities were adopting delaying tactics,” alleged Yogesh Sawhney, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Interacting with mediapersons here today, Sawhney said: “The Union Health Minister reviewed the entire scheme and issued orders for directly providing financial assistance to poor patients.
Sawhney said that due to the “inhumane” approach of the state government, a large number of needy patients were facing hardship. He urged Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to take the matter seriously and fix responsibility on officials who were responsible for this “callousness”.
“Since a couple of patients had died awaiting financial assistance, the matter must be treated as criminal negligence and reviewed accordingly,” he demanded.
Criticising the state government for not “properly utilising” funds released by the Centre from time to time to improve the health infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir, Sawhney said the Union Health Ministry had already sanctioned funds for purchasing critical care ambulances but no purchases had been made so far by the state.
Questioning the decision of the state government to allow doctors of private hospitals to hold OPDs in government hospitals, he smelt a nexus between the management of private hospitals and some local politicians.
