Aasandha owes MVR 6 million to foreign hospitals: NSPA

National Social Protection Agency (NSPA) has said that Aasandha Company, created by the government to provide free healthcare, owes MVR 6 million to foreign hospitals.

In an interview with Sun Online today, Chairman of NSP and Minister of State for Health Tharig Ali Luthfy said that by the end of 2012, the amount owed by Aasandha to foreign hospitals would be about MVR 6 million, and that it was difficult to say exactly which hospitals Aasandha owed money to.

“Based on the information I have received, about MVR 6 million is owed by us for foreign operations. That’s the unpaid amount on the bills sent to us. It’s difficult to say right now exactly which hospitals they are,” he said.

Tharig said that payments are made to foreign hospitals in several stages. He said that the bills sent by the hospitals first go to Aasandha Medical Department and after completion of some tasks, they are sent to Accounts which would make the payment. He said that the correct total amount to be paid to foreign hospitals can only known after the Medical Department completes its checks and sends the bills to Accounts.

Tharig said that by the end of 2012, MVR 776 million had been spent by Aasandha out of which about MVR 100 million remains unpaid to domestic hospitals. He said that this amount was likely to be even less since it paid a large chunk at the end of January 2013.

He said that complaints are often received from Aasandha service providers about delays in receiving funds. He stressed that funds cannot be provided on the very same day that bills are sent, and that it takes at least one month to pay the bills. He said that priority was not given to any group when providing funds.

Tharig said that the amount allocated in the budget of 2013 for Aasandha was MVR 650 million which was MVR 1 million less than the amount given last year. He said that despite this fact, he was confident that the amount allocated for this year would be sufficient, as efforts are under way to cut costs.

He said that discussions are also under way with good standard hospitals abroad to improve the services provided by Aasandha.

Tharig said that wastage by providers as well as receivers of Aasandha was high, and that a system to monitor this would be established in the near future.