Ayushman Bharat scheme: Centre-Punjab meet on December 2 over funds disbursal
The decision to hold a meeting came during the resumed hearing of a plea from the Indian Medical Association (IMA) Punjab and others, pending from 2022
The Punjab government and Centre will meet on December 2 to discuss funds disbursal under the Ayushman Bharat scheme.
The meeting is being held in the wake of Punjab last month telling the high court that the central government is yet to release ₹250 crore as its share under the scheme, whereas Centre in September had told the court that its share of ₹355.48 crore up to 2023- 24 has been released. It had also alleged that the state ‘misutilised the funds”.
The decision to hold a meeting came during the resumed hearing of a plea from the Indian Medical Association (IMA) Punjab and others, pending from 2022, seeking the release of the outstanding dues/claims of the hospitals registered under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme for patient care for which 60% of the amount is paid by the Centre and 40% is the state’s share. The plea claimed around ₹500 crore is pending disbursal of various hospitals.
During the hearing, additional solicitor general Satya Pal Jain told the court that the details furnished by the state government in October had already been forwarded by him to the competent authority at the Centre.
Jain also said that to reconcile the facts and figures as claimed by the state, a joint meeting of the officials be held. In view of this, the court fixed the date of the meeting for December 2 and directed that the outcome of the same be conveyed to it also.
As per Punjab, only ₹46 crore is pending to be paid to the hospitals. The state asserted that it has neither ‘misutilised or withheld the funds’ of the Central government nor of the Punjab. “Whatever funds have been received from any source the same have been utilised to settle the claims under the scheme,” Kumar Rahul, secretary, department of health and family welfare, had told the court last month in an affidavit.
