Administration seems to be playing fraud with the State gazetted employees in insurance case. Under the scheme called Mediclaim Insurance Policy, it was mandatory for gazetted officers to go for the insurance policy and the DDO were instructed by the finance authorities to deduct the annual premium from the salaries of the officers as insurance. It is not for Mediclaim that the gazetted officers are unhappy. Their unhappiness stems from two complaints. One is that the Company, 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.
The second and more serious grievance is that the hospitals identified by the Insurance Company are all sub-standard and do not have even some elementary facilities. These hospitals are not in the listed of known and fully equipped hospitals in or outside the State. A policy holder said that one of the listed hospitals does have even a receptionist.
We could appreciate the plan of the Government called Mediclaim Insurance Policy but its accompanying pre-requisites that would help the beneficiaries to really benefit from the scheme are missing. The Insurance Company should be asked to complete issuance of Insurance Identification Cards to all subscribers to the policy without delay and secondly, the Government should intervene in listing the hospitals which the beneficiaries will approach. What is the use of asking them to go to hospitals where recognised staff and other facilities are not available? Government should not play ball with its employees particularly in the matter of health. The choice of making a selection of hospitals should not be left entirely to the Insurance Company in question but should be under the control of the Government. It would be very democratic if a committee comprising representatives of the Government, the insurance company and the employees union is constituted to frame the criteria for the hospitals that would be approved for enlistment.
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