Central Government Health Scheme – on the death bed

By Vijay Kumar

One of the privileges of being a central government employee in a major city is that your health problems are reasonably taken care of. There are many employees who request for a transfer to a city just to avail the CGHS - Central Government Health Scheme facilities. Over the years, corruption, inefficiency, maze of rules and corporate health care scams have ruined the basis of the system. The doctors are rude, the assistants are outright offensive, the clerks shout at you and they give you a feeling that you are a beggar. But on the other side, look at their fate. The doctors are the best ones, condemned in the service. Every Assistant Commissioner in Central Excise has an AC room, but no doctor in CGHS has a proper room let alone an AC room. There is a CGHS clinic in one of the Central Excise Commissionerate buildings. Every officer from AC and above has an official vehicle, has a sepoy outside his door but the doctor in the clinic, quite a senior person has no vehicle, no peon and sits in a dingy room. And by seniority she is equal to at least an Additional Commissioner. Computers have not so far entered the hallowed portals of the CGHS clinics. They do everything by manual handwriting. And the poor employees from doctors to clerks have to do a non stop job for a minimum of five hours a day. There will be a queue of patients before them and they cannot simply vanish or go off to the canteen for a chat. No wonder they are rude!

But all this is going to end soon. No, they are not buying computers; they are not going to make AC rooms for doctors either. Then what is going to change? They are going to close down CGHS. If you can’t improve a thing, the best mantra is ; kill it. The Government spends a huge astronomical sum of 500 Crores of rupees on CGHS and now they want to save this money.

It may be true that the CGHS facility is being misused by some with the connivance of corporate hospitals but it is also true that Government has a responsibility towards the health of its employees. And CGHS is not totally free. Employees do contribute to it. Central Government employees are not the only ones who are allowed benefits of the scheme; it is available to Members of Parliament and Freedom fighters. CGHS is the family doctor for many government servants who cannot afford the luxury of a family doctor. And if you lose your family doctor? God bless you!.