In a blatant violation of its agreement with the Health Insurance Board, Okhaldhunga Community Hospital has started to charge patients additional money.

The service seekers claim the hospital is charging patients who are covered by the government policy an extra amount. The policy provides insurance for up to Rs100,000 but the hospital is charging additional amounts.

“I visited the hospital a few days ago for a heart check-up. An electrocardiogram (ECG) test was conducted. The hospital charged me Rs250 even though I had my health insurance card with me,” said a service seeker on condition of anonymity. “When I asked why I had to pay extra, they told me that since the health insurance board provides only Rs200 for ECG service that costs Rs450, they decided to charge us to make up the difference.”

The health institutions should provide health services as per the agreement signed with the health board. But the Okhaldhunga Community Hospital started charging additional amounts from the patients admitted to the hospital from September onwards. Since last week, even out-patients have been asked to pay extra.

The hospital administration says it is charging extra to patients due to the delay of payment by the health insurance board.

“As per the agreement, the amount under the health insurance policy is provided to the hospital within 15 days of the hospital asking for payment. But the insurance board does not issue the payment even after six months,” said Roshan Kharel, the director at Okhaldhunga Community Hospital. “We need financial resources to run hospitals and provide salaries to the employees. So the hospital decided to charge additional amounts from the patients seeking health services under the health insurance policy.”

Kharel, however, claimed that the hospital provided free-of-cost treatment in the case of indigent patients.

According to Kharel, there are altogether 150 employees including health workers and administrative staff at the hospital.

The Insurance Board claims that the hospital’s act of charging patients with health insurance an additional amount is wrong. “The board provided the amounts under the health insurance policy three times in the last fiscal year,” said Arjun Pandit, chief of Province 1 Health Insurance Board. “It is true that the payment is not issued every 15 days as per the agreement. The insurance board is a government authority. The hospital cannot charge additional charges by making its own list of rates to receive various health services.”

According to Pandit, the Okhaldhunga Community Hospital has been providing health facilities under the health insurance policy for the past two years. “We have not received any complaints about the hospital so far. We will take measures against the hospital’s act of taking additional amounts accordingly,” he added.

Service seekers complain that the hospital charges an additional amount but it does not provide a receipt for the same. “The hospital should not take the additional charge from the insured people by breaching the agreement. It should annul the agreement if it cannot provide services as per the agreement signed with the insurance board,” said Babukajii Thapa, a local resident. The local people in Okhaldhunga demand immediate revocation of the hospital’s decision of charging an additional amount.

The hospital is located at Sobru in Siddhicharan Municipality-11. Around 200 patients visit the hospital daily, according to the hospital administration.

“A discussion was held regarding charging additional amounts during a meeting of the hospital management committee a few weeks ago,” said Tejendra Khanal, mayor of Siddhicharan Municipality and a member of the hospital management committee. “But the meeting did not take any decision about it. I also heard about the hospital’s move of taking the additional charge. I will raise the issue in the upcoming management committee’s meeting.”