20 CGHS Centres in Delhi to Be Thrown Open to Senior Citizens

[Mahendra Kumar Gupta]

20 CGHS Centres in Delhi to Be Thrown Open to Senior Citizens

(Outlook 29.8.14).

From September 1, the doors of 20 Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) wellness centres in Delhi will be thrown open to senior citizens from among the public for free consultation.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan today unveiled a pilot project to make the facility available to senior citizens.

There has been widespread criticism of the closed door policy of CGHS towards people who were in need of medical help but were not family members of central government employees.

"This is a pilot project for now. We will see how much demand accrues for the CGHS clinics and the ability of the clinics to handle demand from the general public before extending the service to more people in more cities," Vardhan said.

The service for senior citizens will be available on all working days between 1.30 PM and 3 PM. They will, however, not be given free medicines which is only for central employees.

The Minister ordered that all information regarding pending medical claims for more than 30 days be put on the website as over the years complaints have been pouring over the process of reimbursing claims.

There were also complaints of CGHS doctors prescribing branded drugs beyond the approved list. Taking all factors into consideration, it has been decided that all beneficiaries and public need to know which drugs are on the list, he said.

Vardhan made it clear that henceforth only 1,447 generic and 622 branded medicines will be prescribed.

Additionally, it has been decided that CGHS beneficiaries will be provided with medicines for a maximum of one month. In case they are going abroad for extended periods, the medicines will be given for three months, he informed.

The CGHS doctors have been asked not to prescribe investigations or implants that are not listed.

[ashok dua]

That is good news. After 67 years, the first Govt. which has thought about the healthcare required by the Senior Citizens even if they have not worked in Govt. sector. The exponentially escalating cost of medical treatment is taking it out of reach even for the highly placed private sector retirees who do not even have a pension and depend solely on the precious savings from their working life.

Hats off to Modi Govt.

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From: Mahendra Kumar Gupta <mkgup...@gmail.com>
To: dwarka-residents <Dwarka-r...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, 30 August 2014 6:49 PM
Subject: [Dwarka Forum-] 20 CGHS Centres in Delhi to Be Thrown Open to Senior Citizens

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[Krishna]

Yeah this is a good step. Any service rendered from the tax payers money should be equally available to everyone and not just a selected group of govt. own people. Govt. is for welfare of masses but in India due to its pseudo-socialist history, its converted into welfare of its own servants and nothing else.. There should be some option of opting for this service while paying same amount what govt. servants pay to avail this service. Above all this is just an eyewash to cover OPD consultation and nothing else is covered under scheme for non-government senior citizen.. So i feel its atleast 80% useless as consultations are free in govt. hospitals too i guess..

But still a move in better direction but would have been better if all benefits of CGHS facilities of medicines and checkups and operations etc. were available to senior citizens irrespecitve of their past employment status. I understand some portion is paid by govt. servants while on duty but can someone put light on approx how much is that contribution each month and on retirement.. I assume thats only nominal and this scheme runs on tax payers money effectively?.

regards

Krishna