Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Oct 6: Despite loud claims of the J&K Government to launch Group Medical Health Insurance Scheme for the State employees, pensioners and the accredited journalists from October 1, 2018, the pensioners and journalists have not yet been covered while employees’ trade union leaders described it as a decision taken in haste, without taking stake holders into confidence and `struck deal’ with just one company, avoiding transparency in the process.
Taking a dig at the Insurance deal in J&K and making it mandatory for all the State employees, All India Congress Committee president, Rahul Gandhi in his tweet on ‘Ambanis’ today said, ” When your BFF is the PM, you can get the Rs 1,30,000 crore Rafale deal, even without relevant experience. But wait, there is more! Apparently, over 4 lakh J&K Govt employees will also be arm twisted into buying Health Insurance only from your company. Is the Centre favouring Anil Ambani’s Reliance Insurance in J&K?”
The official sources said that the contract, that had been left under the wraps for months by former Governor NN Vohra, was approved on August 31, 2018 in the first State Administrative Council (SAC) meeting chaired by Governor, SP Malik. Even as all the major Government tenders are floated on- line on behalf of Governor or President of India, the Group Mediclaim Insurance was advertised by a private broker, M/S Trinity Reinsurance Brokers Ltd, poorly in a couple of selective news papers. IRDA recognised Trinity, was engaged by the J&K Govt to design and implement the Group Mediclaim Insurance Policy for State employees and pensioners. While all the relevant documents are available on the J&K Finance Department’s website, the MoU between Trinity and the J&K Govt is `conspicuously missing’.
Interestingly, the hectic calls of one of the State Government pensioners from a New Delhi Hospital (BLK Super Speciality), which has been shown empanelled by the State Govt in the list circulated in the media for the insurers, gave a jolt to the scribes in the `News Section’ of this Newspaper late last evening when they came to know that the said hospital refused to entertain the patient, on the plea that they had no such communication from the J&K Government till date for insurance coverage.
The shell shocked State Govt pensioner, Jagdish Mitter Kapahi, hailing from Shastri Nagar Jammu and his disturbed family members told the Excelsior that State Government has deducted first installment on Ist of October, 2018 from his pension account at J&K Bank, Shastri Nagar branch Jammu. As per the claims of the Finance department through wider publicity in the newspapers, it was declared that this policy is effective from October Ist, 2018 but on October 5, this State Government empanelled hospital refused to entertain the patient. The disturbed family had to shift their patient somewhere else for immediate operation.
Kapahi’s son, Deepak told the Excelsior that they felt cheated by the State Government and the people in the State Administration at the helm of affairs. They forwarded the documents related to amount deducted by Govt from his pension, UID Number, Aadhaar number and PPO number as well. The family claimed to go for legal action against the people at the helm of affairs in the State Government for this unfair treatment despite fulfilling required formalities.
A senior officer in the State Finance Department when contacted told that since the policy was mandatory for the State employees and their number was also exactly known, the State Government deposited Rs one crore in advance with the Reliance General Insurance Company. For them the Mediclaim Policy has been effective from Ist of October, 2018 but for the pensioners and journalists, it was optional. The pensioner cases are being scruitinized and their number was also not ascertained as yet. Moreover, the journalists’ forms have not been forwarded to the Medical Insurance wing of the Finance Department by the State Information Department. Their `one time deduction’ of Rs 8777 as premium is also yet awaited. It may take some couple of days to cover the pensioners and accredited journalists under the Govt’s Health Insurance Scheme, he added.
Principal Secretary, Finance Navin Kumar Choudhary when contacted said for pensioners and journalists, this scheme is optional. September 30 had been fixed as the deadline for submitting proposals but till now, more cases are coming. So, it may take a few days more to complete the process. He said Director Information had come with the proposal and request on behalf of the journalists that some more senior journalists, apart from those accredited, should be included in the scheme. ” I can not do it alone. I have to discuss the issue with others and then can take a decision, how much relaxation we can give to the scribes. It may take some more time. I hope it will be clear by October 15,” Choudhary maintained.
Meanwhile, Employees Joint Action Committee leader Abdul Qayoom Wani from Kashmir when contacted said that it was a decision taken in haste by the State Govt, without taking `stake holders’ into confidence. He alleged that no transparency was maintained by the people at the helm of affairs and it appears that only one company was given the benefit for the reason best known to them, while other companies were not allowed to contest the tenders. Wani said deal was struck at the higher rates while one ICICI Lombard was reportedly offering a low premium with equal benefits. There were many doubts in the minds of employees and their leaders, which should have been cleared before going for signing of MoU by the senior officials. He demanded that Govt should review its decision.
Another senior trade union leader and chairman Employees Joint Action Committee, Jammu province Sushil Sudan said that MoU was signed with the company by the State Government officials without consultation with the senior trade union leaders. Employees were not given adequate time to decide and this policy was imposed on them in hush- hush manner by making it compulsory for all. He said even many employees or their serving spouses have already taken Health Insurance policies, they too have been forced to buy the fresh policy. Moreover, the Government has stopped the Medical Allowance of the employees and pensioners opting the scheme. Instead of fulfilling their long pending demand of giving hike in Medical Allowance from Rs 300 per month to Rs 3000, the Govt has stopped the same.
Meanwhile, dispelling the doubts and rhetorical misgivings being created about the Group Medical Health Insurance Scheme rolled out by J&K Government recently, the State Government today claimed that the scheme has been implemented after following all the required procedures in a fair and most transparent manner.
“The entire bidding process has been done in a competitive, clean and transparent manner in line with the Financial Rules and Regulations as well as CVC (Chief Vigilance Commissioner) guidelines,” said an official spokesman.
The spokesman said that the bidding process was monitored by a team of senior-most officers, well versed with the Financial rules and regulations, and was conducted through strict technical and financial evaluation.
“In the first round of bidding only one bid was submitted by a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) and as the first round concluded with poor response it had to be terminated,” he said and added that thereafter, a pre-bid conference was organized, where both private and PSU companies participated and the tender was reissued with minor changes in technical parameters on their suggestion.
He further said that all PSUs as well as top private insurance companies were contacted to participate in the bidding process as a result of which in the second round, 9 companies including Private and Public Sector Undertakings submitted their bids, out of which 5 qualified on technical evaluation criteria. The financial bid of 5 qualified companies were opened and it emerged that Reliance General Insurance Company with a quoted premium of Rs 8776.84 was at L1, National Insurance Company Ltd with quoted premium of Rs 11918.00 at L2, ICICI Lombard with quoted premium of Rs 17691.74 at L3, Bajaj Allianz with quoted premium of Rs 23476.10 at L4 and United India Assurance Company with quoted premium of Rs 27225.00 at L5.
Enumerating further, the spokesman said it is important to point out that more than four years ago when ICICI Lombard was awarded the contract, the premium was Rs 6196 per annum. “However, coverage was much less than this time as the scheme was previously restricted to Gazetted employees only,” he said and added that although the earlier policy also covered employee plus 5 members of his family, the coverage was only for a sum up to Rs 5 lakh and between the age group of 3 months to 80 years. He said the fresh scheme approved by the State Government for all employees, covers the employee plus 5 members of the family including new born babies and aged parents within the age group of zero to 100 years and that too, for a coverage of Rs 6 lakh with a premium of Rs 8777 per annum.
The spokesman said that on any criteria of coverage, number of hospitals where cashless service will be provided (more than 4700 hospitals across the country) and the prevalent market rates, the premium quoted by the successful bidder is extremely competitive.
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