Over 100 hospitals found involved in corruption and fraud have been listed on the official website of Ayushman Bharat insurance scheme as part of the government's "name and shame" policy, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Monday.
The policy is aimed at creating deterrence among healthcare establishments.
Addressing the 'Arogya Manthan', organised on the first anniversary of Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (AB-PMJAY), Vardhan said the government is also planning to adopt a "name and fame" approach to reward hospitals performing well under the scheme.
The 'Arogya Manthan' was organised by the the National Health Authority (NHA), the apex body implementing the scheme.
"As part of the government's zero-tolerance towards corruption, names of 111 hospitals, which have been de-empanelled after they were found involved in some kind of corruption or fraudulent activity, have been put up on the official website of the AB-PMJAY as a part of our 'name and shame' policy," the minister said.
"We will not tolerate anything that will hamper the integrity of the scheme," he said.
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"We are now also planning to implement a 'name and fame' initiative to felicitate and reward those hospitals which are performing well under the scheme so that their best practices can be emulated by others," he added.
Vardhan said a strong fraud prevention, detection and control system is proving to be critical for PMJAY to ensure that frauds are prevented and even if they are attempted, they are quickly detected and strong action is taken.
Nearly 1,200 cases of fraud have been confirmed and action has been taken against 338 hospitals in the AB-PMJAY. FIRs have been lodged against six and penalties amounting to over Rs 1.5 crore have been levied, Vardhan had said earlier this month.
Vardhan on Monday said 32 states and Union territories have already implemented PMJAY.
He expressed disappointment over the remaining four states -- West Bengal, Delhi, Telangana and Odisha -- not implementing the scheme.
Because of this, he said, their citizens are not able to reap the benefits of the scheme.
"We will constantly make efforts to bring the remaining four states on board," he said.
Vardhan said recently the NHA has overhauled the existing health benefit packages and rationalised their cost to remove any aberrations and to encourage wider private sector participation.
He also congratulated the people who played major roles in conceptualising and implementing the scheme according to the prime minister's vision with the use of technology and science to ensure that its benefits reach people living in the remotest corners of the country.
"These soldiers and innovative minds will discuss the achievements and the shortcomings of the scheme which was launched last year. They will also deliberate on ways to make it a state-of-the art programme and strong IT enabled," the health minister said.
At the event, Vardhan said India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has shown that a health scheme of such a large scale cannot only be dreamt of but also successfully implemented.
"The stature of India has grown by leaps and bounds in the world under his dynamic leadership. He has been honoured by the governments of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, etc and organisations such as the Gates Foundation recently for his exemplary work. The PM has become a symbol of aspirations of the world today," he said.
Since the launch of PMJAY on September 23, 2018, more than 47 lakh hospital treatments worth over Rs 7,500 crore have been carried out.
Of the total amount utilised, 55 per cent was for tertiary procedures.
In addition, over 10 crore beneficiary cards have been issued and the government has so far spent Rs 7,500 crore on treatment of patients under the scheme.
As many as 18,073 hospitals and healthcare providers have been empanelled across the country and of these, 53 per cent are private.
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