What happened
For months, private hospitals and dialysis centres across Jammu & Kashmir threatened to exit the Ayushman Bharat-SEHAT scheme over nearly ₹275 crore in unpaid reimbursements, some dues reportedly going back years. The JKPHDA hospital association twice deferred a planned mass walkout in June after government assurances, warning that roughly 1,500 dialysis patients across 160 empanelled facilities were at risk if services stopped. Weeks later, with the SEHAT dues still not fully resolved, the Omar Abdullah government's next move arrived via a Finance Department order: each of J&K's MLAs can now personally sanction up to ₹20 lakh a year from their Constituency Development Fund for BPL patients needing cancer, organ transplant, or dialysis care — capped at ₹2.75 lakh, ₹5 lakh, and ₹1 lakh respectively, and only after patients have already exhausted the very scheme the government still hasn't fully paid for. The ruling National Conference hailed it as a milestone in healthcare access.