Hospitals to stop treating NSSF patients

Private hospitals are set to turn down National Social Security Fund patients again starting Monday, the Private Hospitals Association said in a news conference Tuesday. “The association has decided to completely stop receiving approvals issued by the NSSF until the Cabinet and the NSSF board of directors approves and starts implementing the demands of the hospitals,” a statement issued by the association said. Medical approvals are required by the NSSF for patients in need of nonemergency hospitalization and for most surgical operations. The statement said kidney dialysis patients and those undergoing chemotherapy would be given a two-week grace period to arrange transfers to government-owned hospitals. The association said the decision was taken after deliberations with the government over increasing the NSSF payments to hospitals, and reimbursing arrears due to private hospitals. In its last session, the Cabinet decided to postpone to a later, unspecified date a decision to endorse an agreement reached with the hospitals to pay out higher fees. According to the statement, the Finance Ministry sounded objections over the agreement, which had ended a similar weeklong protest by the hospitals at the end of March. Many private hospitals had then stopped admitting nonemergency NSSF patients but ended their action after the Health Ministry brokered a tentative deal on increasing the payments. The hospitals reiterated that a wage increase decision made by the government in early January has been taking a heavy toll on their sector. “The decision to increase the minimum wage and other salaries swells the costs as well as the prices of various commodities and services. Therefore [it is a must] to increase the fees for hospitalization services,” the statement read. “The hospitals cannot continue to bear losses and burdens and [therefore] head on to bankruptcy,” it added. According to the statement, the hikes on the hospitalization fees would not increase the already-widening NSSF deficit. It said the NSSF proceeds would increase because of the wage increase decision by an amount exceeding the estimated LL135 billion in fee hikes. This would allow the fund to cover the fee increases without any increase in its deficit, the statement said. The statement also called on the government to enact the fee hikes and force their implementation on the NSSF and other funds. “We hope the decision is made and put into effect no later than May 15 to avert reaching a situation where hospitals are forced to discontinue any services offered to NSSF patients,” the statement said. It also called on various organizations including the NSSF, the Public Employees Cooperative and security personnel health care funds to settle arrears due to private hospitals.