There is an important news for the employees of the central government. The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has clarified that if monthly contribution is being deducted regularly from the salary of an employee under CGHS (Central Government Health Scheme), then it is mandatory to give him CGHS service card, even if he has not applied for the card.
The Ministry of Health has asked all ministries and departments in a new office memorandum to ensure that CGHS cards are issued to the employees whose CGHS contribution is being deducted from the salary. The memorandum states that in many cases employees do not apply for CGHS card, but their monthly contribution keeps getting deducted. In such a situation, it is unfair to deprive them of the facilities of CGHS.
CGHS a mandatory scheme and contribution automatically starts
The ministry has clarified that CGHS is a mandatory scheme and the contribution is automatically started from the salary of the employees whose place of residence falls in the CGHS dispensary area. In such cases, it will not be considered necessary to apply separately for the card, the ministry said in an office memorandum.
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“If the CGHS contribution were being compulsorily deducted from the monthly salary of the government employee, it would be unfair to deny the government servant the benefit of CGHS facilities merely on the ground that he/she had not applied to the administration branch for getting a CGHS card,” the order said.
The health ministry has instructed all the administrative branches to automatically issue CGHS cards to such employees. If any employee does not apply despite repeated information, then the concerned officer should be informed about it so that appropriate action can be taken.
This decision is a relief news for all those central employees who are contributing to CGHS even without applying but have not been able to get the card. Now it will be the responsibility of the department to issue cards to such employees.
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