Magdi – The National Health Insurance Board has caused problems at the Beni Hospital in Magdi due to delayed Health Insurance Payments for patient medication and treatment. The hospital has not received three crore rupees for the treatment of insured patients since last December.

The chairman of the hospital management committee, Gyanendra Prasad Suvedi, stated that the board has not paid two crore 75 lakh rupees for the past ten months, affecting the payment of salaries for doctors and health workers, as well as management operations.

“The board’s delay in reimbursing the medication expenses for insured patients has made it difficult to cover costs,” he said, adding, “Due to the lack of funds, the hospital’s services have been increasingly affected.”

There is a provision that the board should reimburse the respective hospital for the medication and treatment of insured patients. Suvedi mentioned that the management committee has been managing the budget from its funds for the past ten months. According to him, the committee’s account, which had three crore in reserves last year, is now nearing depletion.

Dr. Anju Thapa, the acting chief medical superintendent of the hospital, stated that delays in payments by the insurance board have resulted in a budget shortfall for purchasing medicines and providing salaries and allowances to the doctors and health workers under the management committee.

A total of 13,362 families in Magdi are enrolled in health insurance. The health insurance program in the district started in the year 2073 (2016 AD). The program has been implemented at Darbang Basic Hospital and Beni Hospital.

Thapa noted that while the government provides the set rates for all hospitals across the country, there are ongoing issues with receiving this payment annually. Upendra Baral, the head of the health insurance board in the district, informed that the central office has been made aware of the problems at Beni Hospital.

For a premium payment of three thousand five hundred for one family, the government reimburses one lakh rupees for five individuals. For families with more than five members, an additional contribution of seven hundred per member is required, and there is a provision for an annual treatment facility of up to two lakh, with an additional twenty thousand for every one lakh of treatment.