Pressing against the government to enhance healthcare service package prices and to include more number of private hospitals under the Arogyasri Health Insurance Scheme in the state, the Andhra Pradesh Nursing Homes and Private Hospitals Association (APNA) have decided to meet officials of Arogyasri community health insurance scheme and are optimistic to come out with a favourable solution.

The association feels that as there is a rising trend of costs in every sphere i.e. right from electricity bills to water bills, property tax, service tax and at the same time as the regulatory authorities like PCB are pressing them to adhere to required environment safety norms there is a need to enhance in the prices of healthcare package services under the Arogyasri scheme. In addition to this, the association also wants the government to add some more private hospitals and nursing homes under the ambit of Arogyasri programme so that it would ease burden on the existing hospitals and enable them to facilitate better services to the patients.

Around 400 stake holders from the AP private nursing homes association and the AP specialty hospitals association are meeting officials of the Arogyasri community health insurance scheme to discuss the possibility of extending the scheme to most other hospitals from 1st of November 2012 as proposed by the chief minister earlier.

Dr R S Saluja, APNA president, said, “The package rates need to be revised, as they have been the same for the last few years. If rates aren’t revised, the network hospitals may stop taking Arogyasri patients.”

An Arogyasri coordinator said the entire plan was under way and needed to be carried out in a systematic way. The facility would be open to clinics having adequate infrastructure facilities.

It is expected that the government may extend the Arogyasri programme to some more private hospitals with enough infrastructure facilities and possibilities of enhancing the healthcare service package rates under the scheme may also be revived as per their demands.