Initial hiccups in the implementation of the new employees health scheme continue to haunt the State Government.
The Finance Department has incorporated additional fields in the IFMIS (Integrated Financial Management Information System) enabling the drawing and disbursement officers (DDOs) to enter and update necessary details of the employees and their eligible dependents under the scheme.
The development follows complaints from employees that the cards are being generated based on the old data available with the Government.
The department said, in a circular, that the information entered into the portal should be accurate and supported by relevant service record/documents wherever applicable. Timely completion of the exercise is essential for processing and issuing EHS health cards to all eligible employees and their dependents.
DDOs are accordingly directed to accord priority to uploading the data to ensure that no eligible employee is left out due to incomplete or incorrect information. In respect to pensioners, Treasury Department officials have been entrusted with the responsibility of collecting details like Aadhaar, blood group, photographs of pensioners and their dependents and registering them for extending health scheme to them.
The Government has set August 15 as deadline for the completion of the process. The scheme was launched last month for government employees, retired personnel and their family members offering 1,816 medical and surgical packages providing for cashless treatment at 886 private hospitals and114 government run institutions. The scheme is aimed at benefitting 17.88 lakh people including 4.38 lakh employees and 3.61 lakh pensioners.
Employees are however unhappy with the manner in which the implementation of the scheme is being delayed. They are complaining that three months after the Government started deduction of 1.5% of their basic salary or pension as the employees’ contribution, the scheme was yet to start.
Employees are expressing concern over the absence of clarity on the memorandums of understanding signed with the Telangana Network Hospitals Association coupled with the problems in updating the database pertaining to employees and their dependents.