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A tussle between the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and administrators of the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MJPJAY) is continuing with the latter now forced to reconsider the move to de-empanel three municipal hospitals for the cashless medical insurance scheme of the state government.
Senior MJPJAY officials said the three BMC hospitals had been served as many as 35 notices before their names were removed from the list. But at a meeting of the BMC’s health committee last week, Mumbai corporator Dr Saeeda Khan raised the issue of de-empanelment, alleging that MJPJAY officials had not served a single showcause notice before removing Veer Sawarkar Hospital (Mulund), Kurla Bhabha Hospital (Kurla) and MT Agrawal Hospital (Mulund) from the state-funded health insurance scheme.
The three municipal hospitals cater mostly to the large slum clusters in the eastern suburbs and had witnessed a large patient enrollment for procedures covered under the MJPJAY. “The free surgeries stopped after the three hospitals were de-empaneled,” Khan said, adding that a protest will be launched outside the MJPJAY office on January 29 if the BMC hospitals are not immediately re-empaneled.
The MJPJAY can empanel a maximum of 500 hospitals across Maharashtra under the insurance scheme. Officials claimed they planned to enrol a Chembur-based private hospital that is expected to perform better than the BMC facilities.
The three hospitals were empaneled in July 2012. MJPJAY officials told The Indian Express that the three were found ‘non-performing’ during inspection. “The hospitals were undergoing renovation. It is better to empanel another hospital that could serve patients instead of waiting for BMC’s long due redevelopment to get over,” a senior MJPJAY official said.
While Kurla Bhabha and Veer Sawarkar hospital were served 35 notices, MT Agrawal was given 36 notices. The three were de-empaneled in November 2018.
With Khan and the BMC administration challenging the de-empanelment, MJPJAY officials said they would consider re-empanelment after fresh inspections.
The state-run MJPJAY provides insurance coverage up to Rs 1.5 lakh for above and below poverty line families.
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