Metro India News | AMARAVATI

The Government on Thursday has constituted a seven-member committee to identify issues and shortcomings in the implementation of the Employees' Health Cards Scheme (EHS) for the benefit of Government employees, pensioners and their family members. The committee was constituted by Health Minister Satya Kumar Yadav on Thursday as per the assurance given by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu to the employees' unions last month.

Some of the issues related to the implementation of EHS were raised by the union leaders in their meetings with the Committee of Ministers and the Chief Minister last month. The committee will be headed by Vijayanand, Chief Secretary and will consist of the Special Chief Secretary or Principal Secretary of the GAD Department, Secretary to the Department of Expenditure, Secretary of Medical and Health Department, Chief Executive Officer of Dr. NTR Medical Services Trust and two representatives of the Employees' Unions. The committee is required to submit a report on the implementation of EHS within 8 weeks.

The EHS scheme was launched in 2013 with a total of 23,58,858 beneficiaries. The government and the beneficiaries will each bear half of the cost of the scheme. About Rs 350 crore is being spent annually. In the meeting held last month, the representatives of the Employees' Unions highlighted the issues related to non-timely payment of medical expenses, non-increase in package prices for various diseases, negligence of hospitals to provide services under EHS, lack of supervision and redressal of grievances.  

The online portal used for implementation of EHS has limited capacity. Minister Satya Kumar Yadav directed that the experiences, issues and shortcomings of the beneficiaries in the implementation of the EHS scheme should be thoroughly examined.