Arogyasri patients to be referred to teaching hospitals: Telangana CM

Telangana Government has in principle decided to refer patients applying for medical assistance under Aarogyasri Health Scheme to teaching colleges so that they can utilise the facilities, including services of expert doctors, for their treatment.

The government is contemplating to reimburse the Aarogyasri claims, as well as the funds provided under the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) to these hospitals so that there will not be any fund shortage to these institutions. The government is planning to appoint an exclusive team headed by a Group-I officer to effectively manage infrastructure and maintenance issues so that doctors can focus on treating patients.

“Less number of patients are visiting the 35 teaching hospitals across the State, and the hospitals where the patients go are lacking facilities. The Government has therefore decided to take steps to benefit both,” Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy said in reply to discussion in the Legislative Assembly on the Rajiv Arogyasri scheme which came up during the Question Hour on Thursday (March 26, 2026).

The government had initiated steps to modernise the Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (TIMS) — at four places as well — as Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) and Osmania General Hospital. Patients under Aarogyasri would be referred to them in the coming days. “We have taken steps to create additional 10,000 beds in the hospitals to meet the increasing demand,” he said.

The Chief Minister said the Government had spent ₹2,400 crore under Arogyasri and another ₹2,046 crore under CMRF to provide treatment to the needy. He lamented that the government inherited dues of Arogyasri to the tune of ₹627 crore as a legacy from the previous Government. The Congress Government released ₹2,408 crore under Arogyasri so far, of which ₹927 crore was paid to government hospitals and ₹1,480 crore to private hospitals.

Referring to the CMRF, he said there were several irregularities in the issuance of cheques under the relief fund in the past and cases were registered accordingly. The Congress Government took steps to ensure online applications for CMRF, which prevented scope for any misuse.

He said the government decided to provide insurance coverage to all 1.15 crore families in the State thereby instilling confidence in them about their healthcare. “Health and Education are priorities of my government and there is no scope for imposing any cuts in the allocations made to them,” he averred adding that the monthly releases under Arogyasri were ₹89 crore since Congress took over, as against the ₹59 crore during the previous government.

The Chief Minister criticised the Opposition parties for their propaganda that private hospitals were facing closure because of Aarogyasri dues and said the present government had enhanced the coverage from ₹5 lakh to ₹10 lakh in spite of the pressure faced due to the dues left by the previous government.

He said administering the Health sector was a challenging task, as new tasks would keep cropping up and the Government had decided to usher in several reforms in the coming days to make the sector effective.