Days after raising objections to the Ayushman Bharat scheme, popularly called Modicare, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on June 22 extended its support after an assurance from the government to consider their issues.

"We had a very positive discussion. The government has assured to look into the various issues raised by us. We want it to protect the interests of both the small and medium level hospital (doctors) and the community (patients)," said IMA Secretary General R.N. Tandon. IMA had earlier pointed out flaws in the design of the world's largest government-run healthcare scheme and one of their major contention was about the rates fixed for treatment of various diseases, saying most did not cover enough and seriously compromised patients safety.

After his discussion with Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM) CEO Indu Bhushan, Tandon said they are expecting a clarity soon. IMA agreed to support mainly in empanelment of hospitals, spreading awareness and beneficiary identification processes. "IMA is proud to be associated with AB-NHPM and would be keen to provide help in spreading awareness and developing a larger network of quality service providers especially in Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities," Tandon said at the discussion with Bhushan on potential collaboration.

Bhushan said IMA is a critical stakeholder in AB-NHPM as private sector role is key to success of AB-NHPM by enhancing the accessibility to quality and patient centric care, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a statement. "Key issues like timely payments to the hospitals, feedback and grievance mechanism, ease of setting up of IT infrastructure at hospitals for paperless transactions etc. were deliberated on, and constructive suggestions were made during the meeting," the ministry said.

AB-NHPM Deputy CEO Dinesh Arora said that National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) accreditation is desirable but not essential for the hospitals, since the quality and patient safety would be one of the key principle of AB-NHPM. Arora also conveyed that based on costing studies to be steered by NITI Aayog, continual adjustment of benefit packages and their rates is proposed, hence, IMA need to support the government through their on-ground knowledge and professional expertise. AB-NHPM has been designed to provide financial protection and prevent catastrophic healthcare expenditures to over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families and endow a cover for cashless hospitalization services of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year.