One million surgeries on cashless basis

Hyderabad, April 30: In a record of sorts, one million surgeries/ therapies were performed on cashless basis under the Rajiv Aarogyasri scheme as on April 28.

The scheme was launched by the state government in April 2007 to provide health care to poor patients.

An amount of about Rs 2,832.44 crore has been spent till date on surgeries and therapies of 938 identified procedures.

The scheme has also provided free screening and treatment for common ailments to over 44 lakh patients at 26,000 health camps.

According to the authorities, the scheme provided out-patient consultation for 25.56 lakh patients and free in-patient evaluation for 11.44 lakh patients apart from providing cashless surgeries/ therapies treatment to 10,00,631 persons for the 938 identified procedures through 329 network hospitals till April 28.

The scheme is very unique and innovative in many ways such as providing facilitator services through Aarogya Mitras, a dedicated call centre, online grievance redress and control mechanisms through multi-level scrutiny of e-preauthorisation, claim clearance on outcome basis and unique end-to-end cashless packages.

It also boasts of robust information and communication technology (ICT) solutions for transparent and efficient management to cater to the huge population base of the state.

Officials of the Aarogyasri Health Care Trust claim that the achievement was made possible by the active participation of network hospitals and through a dedicated team of field workers, executives and senior officials associated with the scheme duly led by dynamic leadership and strong support from the government.

They also acknowledge the efforts of leaders, contribution of officials, insurers, service providers, technology providers and other stake- holders.

Launched on a pilot basis in the three districts of Mahaboobnagar, Srikakulam and Anantapur for 23 lakh below-poverty-line (BPL) families, the scheme quickly gained public acceptance as it addressed the distressing financial health needs of the poor.

It was soon expanded, in content and geographical coverage, to cover 938 procedures in 31 systems to cater to the health needs of 1.99 crore BPL families in the state by July 2008.

–Agencies