In a major development, Uttar Pradesh government employees and pensioners will be allowed treatment in hospitals according to their pay scale. The arrangement has been made for treatment under the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay State Employees Cashless Medical Scheme under the aegis of the state government. As in the centre’s Ayushman scheme, there is a provision for a general ward for patients.
In this scheme, there is a provision for general as well as semi-private and private wards. A health card number will be generated on the basis of the pay band of the employee or pensioner. According to the eligibility, there exists a facility to lodge employees in general, semi-private, or private wards.
Under this scheme, beneficiaries have been categorised from levels 1- 5 in general, 6 to level 9 under semi-private and 10 to level 16 are eligible for private rooms. This scheme was recently rolled out by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Health cards for employees and pensioners were made a part of the BJP’s manifesto during the UP Polls.
Under the scheme, the beneficiary profile can be applied through the Ashwin portal and their application will be verified by the DDO, after which the benefit could be taken directly to the government hospital. At the hospital, a corpus fund would be provided by the government for treatment at a private hospital after the verification of the payment that would be made online. The sum will be required to go directly into the hospital’s account.
However, its connectivity with the portal of Ayushman Yojana is a concern as the expansion of the database is underway. All the documents and photos of treatment are taken through hospital administration via email in some cases. Based on their verification, the hospitals are receiving the payment. It is important that more than 20 lakh state employees get direct benefits from the cashless scheme.
The scheme also includes full free unlimited treatment at the government hospital and up to 5 lakhs of treatment in authorised private hospitals. Although the portability facility is not available under this cashless scheme of the UP government, i.e. state government employees and pensioners can avail of this cashless treatment facility only in government or private hospitals.
Speaking to India Today, UP Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak said that the aim of the scheme was to provide quality health facilities to all employees and pensioners with financial assistance.
“Not only government hospitals but private hospitals have also been included (under the facility), which will provide better access to the beneficiaries who are taking advantage of the cashless scheme”, he said.
