HYDERABAD: The State government is planning to make changes in the Employees Health Scheme (EHS) soon. With no good response for the existing EHS and with numerous complaints pouring in stating that the EHS cards are not honoured at majority hospitals, the State government is planning to convert the EHS as contributory health insurance scheme.
Health Minister E Rajender, in an informal chat with reporters at the Secretariat here on Tuesday, hinted that the State government may take a monthly contribution of up to Rs 500 from State government employees for the scheme. There are around four lakh State government employees and another 3 lakh retired employees covered under the scheme. Though accredited journalists too are covered under EHS, the government may not take any contribution from them.
Though the TNGOs asked the government to take their contribution too, the State refused as it promised free health insurance to all the government employees and journalists. But, four years after the implementation of EHS, government employees are unhappy and they have several complaints like cards not being honoured by some hospitals.
If the State government collects a monthly contribution from the employees it would get around Rs 25 crore-30 crore per month. Thus, the amount will be used to provide healthcare to the staff. The State government is spending Rs 650 crore to Rs 1,000 crore annually on Arogyasri and EHS.
COMMAND CONTROL CENTRE
The State government is also planning to set up a command control centre (CCC) for the health department in Hyderabad. The CCC will be equipped with GIS and track the movement of medicines being supplied from Hyderabad to different primary health centres (PHCs) and hospitals across the State. When he was the Civil Supplies
Minister, Rajender introduced the GIS tracking system for civil supplies vehicles, which reduced the misuse or diversion of PDS rice. On the same lines, the GIS would be
installed for health department so that there would be no diversion of medicines.