Himachal Pradesh Health Minister Dhani Ram Shandil will shortly meet Union Health Minister JP Nadda to request him to remove the cap on the Centre’s contribution to the Ayushman Bharat scheme. “I will meet Nadda shortly and request him to remove the cap from the scheme shortly. Being a Himachali, he will understand the problem we are having with the scheme,” said Shandil.

The state government’s pending liability under the health scheme has risen to Rs 235 crore, disrupting the treatment for beneficiaries at the major hospitals in the state. Although the Centre funds the scheme on a 90:10 basis, its annual contribution is capped at Rs 50 crore. Any expenditure beyond that has to be borne by the state government. Shandil said the state government’s expenditure on the scheme was much more, leading to mounting liabilities. “I will request Nadda to make the 90:10 contribution on our actual expenditure,” Shandil said. Until last year, the state government was spending over Rs 100 crore annually on the scheme.

Around 5.32 lakh families are registered under the Ayushman Bharat scheme in the state. The scheme provides health coverage up to Rs 5 lakh per family to the economically vulnerable section of society. In November last year, the payment pendency under the scheme was close to Rs 200 crore. Now, it has increased to Rs 235 crore.

Due to the rising pendency in payments to medical suppliers, patients often don’t get the required medicine and equipment under the scheme. “At Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (IGMC), Shimla, the pending dues under the Ayushman Bharat scheme are around Rs 40 crore. Since the super-speciality departments have shifted from IGMC to Chamyana, general patients are not facing significant problems. However, cancer patients occasionally face difficulties in accessing expensive medicines,” said Dr Rahul Rao, Medical Superintendent, IGMC.

Meanwhile, the liability in the state-sponsored Himcare scheme reached Rs 425 crore. The government maintains that several irregularities have taken place in the scheme, and a Vigilance probe is underway into the scheme.