Covid-19 crisis: When private hospitals come to the rescue

Several healthcare facilities empanelled under AB-PMJAY

Our Reporter
Dimapur, April 29 (EMN): The Naga Hospital Authority Kohima (NHAK) has stopped taking new patients since March 27 after the facility was converted to Covid-19 hospital, but the authorities have come up with alternative arrangements to ensure that patients do not face inconvenience because of the current health crisis.

Speaking to Eastern Mirror, the managing director of NHAK, Dr. T Katiry, informed that they do not have the exact record of patients being referred to other hospitals at the moment.

However, Katiry informed that beneficiaries of the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), government’s flagship healthcare scheme, can avail all the benefits as per the guidelines if they visit the hospital empanelled under the programme. He added that NHAK is entertaining emergency patients 24×7 but ‘difficult to keep all the track record of the patient as of now’.

A representative from Bethel Medical Centre (BMC) told this newspaper that four patients were referred to the facility by NHAK with authorisation order from the managing director. She informed that all four of them have been discharged and two of them were enrolled under AB-PMJAY.

All the payments were taken care of according to the AB-PMJAY guidelines, she informed. Even though patients were referred to BMC, there were no difficulties in managing the patient as there is no shortage of medical workers at the moment, she added.

The manager of KP Bethesda Hospital, Aseno Sao, informed that NHAK has referred three patients — a dialysis patient, another one with a head injury and the third for medical treatment – to the healthcare facility.

Sao said that all the three patients had authorisation orders from the managing director of NHAK and that they have been discharged from the hospital. She added that two of the patients were AB-PMJAY beneficiaries and the medical bills were cleared according to the AB- guidelines of the scheme.

The manager informed that in this current situation, they do not admit patients other than those in serious condition or are in need of emergency attending. Even though NHAK referred patients to the hospital, it is not affecting its functioning, she said, adding that such intake depends on the kind of treatment and facilities available in the hospital.

“All the staff is on duty and there is no shortage of medical staff as of now,” Sao said.

Managing director of Oking Hospital Dr. Vikethonyu Kesiezie informed that he did not have the exact number of patients referred by NHAK yet and that he would be able to give the exact number only after the Covid-19 situation gets over. He added the healthcare facility is empanelled under AB-PMJAY and that they follow the prescribed guidelines for medical bill clearance.

The managing director went on to say that the number of patients in the hospital has increased after the NHAK was converted to a Covid-19 hospital but there was no shortage of medical staff.

Hospitals empanelled under AB-PMJAY

Home Commissioner Abhijit Sinha has informed through a statement on Wednesday that ‘as per the order of Health department, KOHIMAS and Gynae Institute of Virility and Fertility have been identified for treatment of non-Covid patients referred from Covid-19 hospital (NHAK) for hospitalization and will be empanelled under AB-PMJAY to provide benefits as per guidelines to the beneficiaries’.

The healthcare facilities in Kohima that are already empanelled under AB-PMJAY scheme are Oking Hospital, K.P Bethesda Hospital, Putounuo Nursing Home and Bethel Medical Centre. In Dimapur, Christian Institute of Health Sciences and Research (CIHSR) Eden Medical Centre, Zion Hospital and Research Centre, Nikos Hospital and Research Centre and Nagaland Multispeciality Health and Research Centre are under the scheme so far, the update informed.

It went on to inform that Lenjem Hospital in Mokokchung and Tuensang Polyclinic too have been empanelled under the healthcare scheme while “arrangements have been made in Nyenching Government High School for delivering healthcare by the department” in Longleng. It added that empanelment is under process in the rest of the districts that have private hospitals.