LUCKNOW: State government employees and pensioners are up in arms against a recent order which has stopped them from submitting claim against medical expenses if treatment has taken place in a private hospital or clinic. As per the order, exception will be made only if a particular disease cannot be treated at a government hospital. It also prohibits senior officials and politicians from getting VIP treatment.
The directions have been issued in compliance with a high court order. UP government officials refused to commenton it, saying that the matter was sub judice as the case is ongoing but added that because it was required to submit an action taken report to the court, it had to announce the new rules. Sources also said that government was contemplating seeking a modification in court directions.
However, with the order stating expressly that no reimbursement for treatment in private hospitals be made till further orders, government employees have been left in a quandary.
“Reimbursement of medical expenses has been taking place for years according to department rules. The government should have put forth its stand before the court against this judgment. It has not been able to start cashless treatment and now reimbursements have also been withdrawn. Government hospital facilities in the state are simply not sufficient or up to the mark to insist on something like this. The order will affect employees and pensioners across board,” said Hari Kishore Tiwari of the Pension Bahali Manch.
‘What happens to persons undergoing med treatment?’
A retired UP government official, who had filed for a claim of about Rs 5 lakh in June this year, is worried that he might not get back his money.
“I have been hospitalised thrice this year, twice in SGPGI and once in Apollo. I put in a claim in June but have not received the reimbursement so far. When the government cannot provide proper facilities in its hospitals, why has it issued such an order? And what happens to people like me who have already received treatment or are undergoing treatment,” he asks.
While making an exception for treatment for ailments which cannot be treated in a government hospital, the order also says that the government must ensure “that for similar ailments and diseases, if suffered by common poor people, arrangement should be made for their treatment also at government expenses in such private medical care institutions”.
However, citing the ongoing case, officials refused to elaborate on how such directions would be implemented.
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