Ayushman Bharat: Government shouldn’t expect dead bodies to pay bills, says Nagaland Congress leader

DIMAPUR — Former president of Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC), K Therie, has raised concern over the implementation of the Ayushman Bharat Health Card scheme in Nagaland.

In a press release issued on Wednesday, the Congress leader claimed that patients are being billed for various services during hospitalisation or even after death, despite the promise of cashless treatment under the scheme.

“In Nagaland, patients and corpses are billed for medicines, X-rays, CT scan, MRI, blood and other laboratory tests, etc. This scheme should be corrected accordingly to ensure cashless treatment to patients,” stated Therie.

Maintaining that the beneficiaries should receive the benefits without financial burden, he said 90 percent of funding for the scheme comes from the Government of India and yet the state government is finding it ‘very hard’ to provide the 10 percent share.

While mentioning that the state government deducts funds at source for the government employees and pensioners for the scheme, he proposed the government bears the funding for the unemployed and the farmers as well.

The funds received from the central government and collected through taxes ultimately belong to the public and should be utilised for their welfare, he said.

“The scheme is to help the sick as they cannot help themselves after hospitalisation. Government should not expect bedridden patients or dead bodies to pay bills,” he added.