PIONEER NEWS SERVICE | Dehradun
The State Government Health Scheme (SGHS), commonly called the Golden card scheme, has come under a cloud due to the refusal of many prominent private hospitals to treat patients under its cover. Under the scheme, cashless treatment is provided to the State government employees and pensioners in the empanelled hospitals.
The scheme is operated by the State Health Authority (SHA) which also operates the Atal Ayushman Yojana for the common citizens. A sum of more than 130 crore is pending to be paid to private hospitals and in absence of the budget the SHA is unable to pay this huge sum to the hospitals. It is learnt that the Himalayan Hospital Jolly Grant, Kailash hospital, Kanishka hospital, Graphic Era hospital, Medanta hospital Gurugram and others have refused the cashless treatment of patients under the SGHS.
More than four lakh State government employees and pensioners are covered by the golden card scheme. Under the scheme, the employees get the benefit of cashless treatment in the empanelled hospitals. A fixed amount of money depending upon their grade pays is deducted from the salaries of the employees for the scheme. Similarly, pensioners also contribute to the scheme and the contribution of both the employees and pensioners is used for cashless treatment under the scheme.
The Health minister Dhan Singh Rawat had recently said that the expense under the scheme has far exceeded the contribution of the employees. He said that at present the State government gives no budget to operate this scheme. Rawat said that a proposal to operate the scheme will be brought before the cabinet.
The president of the State Employees Joint Federation, Uttarakhand, Arun Pandey said that the State government should provide an additional budget to bridge the gap between the contributions of the employees and the actual expense incurred on the scheme of cashless treatment.
