Railways Make Private Hospitals Accessible To Over 27 Lakh Employees

In a significant decision, the Indian Railways has allowed its 13 lakh serving and 14 lakh retired employees and their families to avail medical treatment for serious ailments from private hospitals — including super speciality hospitals, and nursing homes.

According to a senior official of Indian Railways, Ashwani Lohani, Chairman Railway Board (CRB), has authorised and empowered all the 71 Divisional Railway Managers (DRMs) to take decision in this matter. The move comes close on the heels of Lohani giving more financial and administrative powers at managerial level.

Until now, Railways employees had to take permission from general managers (GM) at the zonal level or from Railway board to seek treatment outside government and Railway hospitals. If the treatment required less than Rs 10 lakh, permission was given at the GM level, but in case it was above Rs 10 lakh, it required clearance from the Railway Board which led to loss of time in urgent and critical cases. Read More…

Indian Railways, Railway hospitals