The state health department has called a meeting with private hospitals on Monday to discuss how to ensure they do not refuse patients covered under the Swasthya Sathi scheme.

Health secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam said the meeting had been convened to see to it that patients holding Swasthya Sathi cards were not denied treatment at private hospitals.

“We are expecting an increased demand in Calcutta since a lot of people are enrolling for the Swasthya Sathi scheme,” Nigam said on Friday. “There are 1.43 crore beneficiaries across the state now. We are anticipating that the numbers will grow by 2 crore in the entire state.”

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had announced in November that the state government would bring all residents of Bengal under the fold of Swasthya Sathi, a cashless health insurance scheme launched by the state government in December 2016.

The scheme offers health coverage of Rs 5 lakh per annum per family. The state government pays the premium.

“We have been invited to a meeting to discuss the role of private hospitals in implementing the Swasthya Sathi scheme. The scheme will benefit many people, but there are certain things that need to be discussed,” said Rupak Barua, the president of the Association of Hospitals of Eastern India.

“Will private hospitals also admit patients with Swasthya Sathi cards for primary or secondary care, or only for tertiary and advanced care? If patients requiring primary and secondary care flood private hospitals, beds will get occupied,” said Barua, who is also the group CEO of AMRI Hospitals.

Lakhs of people are filling in forms for the Swasthya Sathi scheme during the Duare Sarkar campaign, as part of which government officials are holding camps in all localities where people can enrol for various government schemes, said an official of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC). The CMC is responsible for Duare Sarkar camps in Calcutta.

Many private hospitals are not willing to admit patients under the Swasthya Sathi scheme and the West Bengal Health Scheme, which is meant for state government employees only, as the rates are very low.

“The Swasthya Sathi rates are even lower than the West Bengal Health Scheme rates. It is difficult for private hospitals to sustain if patients under the Swasthya Sathi scheme flood hospitals,” said an official of a private hospital in the city.

“A C-section delivery at our hospital costs Rs 60,000 if the patient pays in cash. For a person with cashless medical insurance, it will cost Rs 50,000. The rate is Rs 15,000 under the Swasthya Sathi scheme,” said the official.

The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission recently asked a hospital to conduct an eye surgery free of cost since the patient had a Swasthya Sathi card. It asked another hospital to refund to a patient the amount that is not reimbursed under the West Bengal Health Scheme.