The supply of surgical instruments and equipment, such as stent and pacemaker, to major government hospitals in Kerala for the treatment of heart diseases is likely to be hit in the coming days.
The distributors claim that the payment for these from the government, worth crores of rupees, has been due for months, in some hospitals up to over a year, and they are in dire straits. The situation related to the payment for procedures covered under government-sponsored insurance schemes such as the Karunya Arogya Suraksha Padhathi (KASP), Karunya Benevolent Fund, and the Medical Insurance for State Employees and Pensioners, in both government and private hospitals, is more critical. In the case of private hospitals, they can arrange their own funds for the regular supply of the equipment. But with the government defaulting on payments, some of the private hospitals have backed off from insurance schemes such as KASP.
Sources pointed out that almost 60% of the angioplasty surgeries in the State is being performed in government hospitals and government medical college hospitals. If the supply of the equipment in these places is stopped, it would mainly affect poor patients who depend on these institutions.
According to P. Sangeeth, functionary of a collective of the distributors, the supply of equipment to the Government General Hospital, Kozhikode, has been stopped. The hospital is yet to clear ₹3 crore as dues since August last. Though the Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, has defaulted on around ₹25 crore, the supply has not been stopped. Payment for the supply of equipment at the cathlab set up at the Government District Hospital at Kanhangad in December is yet to be made. Government hospitals at Pariyaram in Kannur and Thrissur are some of the other hospitals that are staring at a similar crisis.
Mr. Sangeeth pointed out that in some government hospitals, there has been no payment for around 13 months. The distributors are reportedly planning to approach the authorities at the Government General Hospital, Kozhikode, on Wednesday demanding that their stock be given back.
