Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 6

The beneficiaries of the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) are facing a tough time as many of the empanelled centres in the tricity are refusing to provide them cashless services.

Despite getting proper permission from doctors at the CHGS centre in Civil Hospital, Sector 45, they are being told to pay for the services, though as per the government approved rates.

“Why should I pay them, when I have got proper referral from the CGHS centre?” asked CGHS beneficiary Ashok Kumar, who visited Alchemist Hospital in Panchkula to get his blood sample tested.

“This is complete harassment, I am entitled to cashless service but they are asking me to pay for the tests,” he said.

The case is no different in some other hospitals.

“Even Fortis Hospital is not entertaining the CGHS beneficiaries, they are being charged for the services despite having permissions,” said another CGHS beneficiary. “Though you can get the amount reimbursed, imagine if you don’t have the initial amount for the treatment. It is very scary,” the beneficiary added.

Additional Director, CGHS, Dr Ashwani Kumar told Chandigarh Tribune that he had received complaints against Alchemist and Fortis hospitals and they had been told for an early compliance.

“We have sent notices to them, asking why action should not be initiated against them for non-compliance,” said Dr Kumar.

An official in Alchemist Hospital, meanwhile, said they were finding it difficult to upgrade to the new NHA IT portal and it would take some time to get used to the latest system.

“We also want hassle-free service for CGHS beneficiaries but till the time we upgrade to the new system, people will have to bear with some inconvenience. We are undertaking trial runs and hopefully the issue will be resolved in the next few days,” said the official, who didn’t wish to be named.

Earlier in June, the Centre had directed all the CGHS empanelled centres in the country to upgrade to the new system for providing cashless, paperless and citizen-centric services.

Fortis Hospital said they adopted the new CGHS online system on June 10, but since then they were “not able to upload bills” on the portal “as per the directions of the CGHS”.

“We had requested the CGHS to allow us to continue on the old system till the problems of the new site are resolved, but apparently that was not possible,” said the Fortis spokesperson.

“We are sensitive to the needs of our CGHS patients. Despite having an outstanding of over Rs 6 crore and unpaid bills of as long as two years we never stopped cashless services earlier. It is only now, we have been forced to take this decision as there is no clarity on what will happen to our credit bills,” the spokesperson added.