Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, June 2: Gazetted employees of the State Government are feeling hoodwinked on the name of mandatory Group Mediclaim Insurance Policy as majority of the insured employees have not yet been issued the Identification Cards by the concerned Insurance company while no institution of repute is included in the list of hospitals offering medical treatment of the beneficiaries.
Even after the lapse of more than three months, the ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd, with which the State Government has tied up for the Group Mediclaim Insurance Policy of its Gazetted employees, has not yet provided the Insurance Identification Cards to the Policy bearers.
Further, the list of hospitals offered by the Insurance company for providing treatment to the beneficiaries has no institution of repute in Jammu Kashmir as well as in other parts of the country, including national capital New Delhi.
As per the list, eight hospitals in Jammu, 11 in Kashmir and 112 in other parts of the country have been mentioned as the institutions where the medical treatment to beneficiaries will be made available under the insurance coverage of Rs 5 lakhs on floater basis for each year.
Standard of the listed hospitals can be gauged from the fact that one of such ‘multi-specialty centre’ in outskirts of Jammu lacks even reception and basis infrastructure of an ordinary nursing home, said an employee who visited the hospital for enquiring about the medical facilities and specialties available there.
Pertinent to mention here that for introduction of Group Mediclaim Insurance Policy for all the Gazetted employees on mandatory basis, the State Government has tied up with ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd for a period of three years commencing from February 10, 2014 on an annual premium of Rs 6081.
On instruction of the Government, all the concerned DDOs in various Departments had deducted the annual premium from the salaries of the Gazetted employees for the months of January 2014, payable in February 2014, which was also remitted into the Government treasuries.
Under the policy, the employee and his five dependants within the age group 3 months to 80 years are covered. lnsurance coverage of Rs 5 lac for a family on floater basis will be available for each year.
Hundred percent rebate is available under Income Tax Act on the premium amount.
However, the policy has virtually turned into a fraud with the employees, who told the Excelsior that majority of them have not yet been issued the Identification Card while the hospitals offering treatment under the policy are not up to satisfaction.
No one will dare to get admitted at a lesser known hospital while on the other hand, there is no provision of re-imbursement of the medical expenses if we seek treatment in an institution of our choice, said an employee while explaining the dilemma over Medical Policy.
When contacted, an official of ICICI Lombard GIC Ltd claimed that some Identification Cards have distributed and the process was on for providing the same to left over employees. However, he refused to divulge the details and reason behind the unprecedented delay.
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