Cashless insurance scheme fails to benefit govt employees

Gurvinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 8

Having been introduced in the state with an aim to fulfil desired health needs of government employees, the cashless health insurance policy has proved a non-beneficial to employees as empanelled hospitals have refused to accept cases under the scheme.

Besides, most of the major hospitals, including DMCH, CMCH, Satguru Partap Singh Hospital and Fortis, here do not figure on the list of empanelled hospitals. Similar is the case in other districts.

The empanelled hospitals are limited and a number of them don’t fulfil desired health needs as a majority of them are eye-care or orthopaedic hospitals.

A doctor at one of the empanelled hospitals bluntly refused to entertain a government employee under the scheme. “We don’t take cases of government employees under this scheme,” he said.

President of the Punjab State Ministerial Services Union Nachhattar Singh said, “Government employees have been left in the lurch as medical reimbursements of governments have been stopped for long on the pretext of starting this cashless scheme.”

Sukhwinder Singh, President of the Punjab Health Department Subordinate Offices Clerical Association, said, “The government must ensure that all hospitals accept the scheme. The empanelled hospitals are less known and even those are refusing to take cases. In one of the cases, a person concerned from a empanelled hospital said we must deposit the fee. It would later be reimbursed when the government submits the cash to the hospital.”

“Earlier, seeking reimbursement from the government was much better, as employees could at least get treatment from the preferred hospital,” he said.

Ludhiana Civil Surgeon Dr Renu Chhatwal, on being asked about the majority of hospitals missing from the list, said the hospitals did not get empanelled. Asked if it was not their responsibility to ensure that the hospitals were empanelled, she said, “We have not received any such guidelines.”

On being asked why major hospitals were not on the empanelled list, State Minister of Health and Family Welfare Surjit Kumar Jyani said, “There are shortcomings in this scheme. Meetings are being conducted in this regard and soon suggestions will be incorporated.”