The Ranchi Sadar Hospital has earned distinction as the second government hospital of the country that has made the maximum number of claims for reimbursement for treatment patients under centrally funded Ayushman Bharat healthcare scheme which coincidently Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched from Ranchi on September 23, 2018.
In Jharkhand there are a total 759 hospitals including 484 private hospitals, 220 government run hospitals and 55 central government-run hospitals, which are empanelled for Ayushman Bharat healthcare scheme where a patient belonging to BPL category can avail free treatment up to Rs five lakh.
After inception of the scheme so far 652660 patients have availed benefit of the scheme. Among the claims for reimbursement of treatment made by hospitals 87.19 per cent claim was made by private hospitals and the remaining by government run hospitals. 83825 patients preferred treatment at government run hospitals.
A total of Rs 610 crore claim was settled out of which Rs 551.38 crore was given to private hospitals. Government run hospitals got only Rs 58.62 crore.As per the report the Sadar hospital got Rs 6.93 crore under claim settlement, which is the second highest claim made by any government run hospitals across the country.
“Ranchi’s Sadar hospital has done well. In fact, Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Chaibasa have done well in terms of government run hospitals offering treatment under this healthcare scheme and subsequently making claims for reimbursement. I have asked other districts to follow the success story of Ranchi. A large number of poor patients visit RIMS for treatment. Only if RIMS authority pays proper attention RIMS can avail the claim of anything between Rs 50 crore to Rs 60 crore annually,” State Health Secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni told The Pioneer.
Doctors and health staff of the Sadar hospital are excited over their service being recognized nationally.
“Right after the scheme launched, so far, we have treated 19300 patients under Ayushman Bharat scheme. We have a dedicated team and the helpdesk to assist patients and their family. We ensure that the poor must avail this benefit,” said Ranchi district civil surgeon Vijay Bihari Prasad.
Other than Sadar hospital there are 14 community health centres in Ranchi district. No wonder, these community health centres too have performed exceptionally in terms of extending benefit to common people.
For instance, the community health centre at Ormanjhi treated around 1100 patients followed by Angara (900), Ratu (800) among others. The Sadar hospital, having 30 doctors and over 60 nurses, is in a slow and steady expansion mode. The hospital has started a facility for the treatment of orthopaedic diseases besides a Paediatric department.