Gujarat Hardlook: Long route to healthcare

Serving and retired Central authorities employees, including members of the executive, judiciary and legislature, and journalists accredited with PIB are among those eligible for the CGHS scheme. According to the CGHS website, 42 lakh beneficiaries are covered nether the strategy crossed the country.

However, Urmila, Trivedi’s 69-year-old wife, says they tin hardly avail the services. “We tin hardly negociate to determination astir the house, overmuch little question to Ahmedabad to get a referral for attraction from a CGHS wellness centre successful Ahmedabad. Comorbidities specified arsenic diabetes and humor unit person lone analyzable our wellness issues. A centre adjacent would assistance america show our conditions and entree attraction easily,” she says. Their lone girl unrecorded successful Mumbai.

A CGHS wellness centre astatine Ashram Road successful Ahmedabad. (Express/Bhupendra Rana)

As a result, the aged pensioners are present compelled to marque out-of-pocket expenses. Notably, Rajkot, which is the biggest metropolis successful the Saurashtra-Kutch region, does not person a azygous CGHS wellness centre.

A letter, dated March 6, 2023, from the Directorate General of CGHS to the caput of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department, states, “…for opening a caller allopathic CGHS dispensary successful a caller city, determination has to beryllium minimum of 6,000 Central authorities employees taxable to availability of resources similar funds, staff, etc. The Ministry takes a considered presumption regarding opening of caller CGHS wellness centres astatine caller places astatine an due time. At present, determination is nary connection regarding opening of CGHS wellness centre successful Rajkot.”

As per information disposable until September 2023, the Saurashtra-Kutch portion has implicit 15,387 beneficiaries.

It is besides not a tiny portion that tin autumn by the wayside. The portion comprises 12 districts and was a authorities successful its ain close earlier the enactment of Gujarat successful 1960. Most far-flung places connected the state’s south-western seashore to the wellness centres successful Ahmedabad scope from 350 to 400 km. It takes astir 9 hours to question from Okha successful Dwarka territory and astir 8 hours from Veraval successful Gir-Somnath district, Porbandar and Mandvi successful Kutch district.

(From left) HM Trivedi, his woman Urmila Trivedi, VD Pandya, and Chandrakant and Heena Parmar

Unlike Rajasthan and Maharashtra, wherever CGHS wellness centres are well-distributed crossed the states, successful Gujarat, these are concentrated astir the Central portion — portion Ahmedabad has 12 centres, Vadodara and Gandhinagar person 1 each.

Why Saurashtra-Kutch is isolated

A retired employee, who has observed the CGHS web successful the state, says, “While determination were much centres successful Ahmedabad owed to the city’s centrality successful the state, the centre successful Vadodara was converted from a postal section centre to a regular CGHS centre. Gandhinagar was an hold of Ahmedabad, but they made it a full-fledged centre due to the fact that it is wherever VVIPs and apical bureaucrats reside.”

In 2023, Rajkot’s Principal Accountant General (PAG) had fixed an in-principle support for the allocation of a Type-5 bungalow to acceptable up the CGHS wellness centre successful the city, it is learnt.

On October 13 the aforesaid year, erstwhile Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Mohan Kundariya had written to past Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya connected the request for a CGHS centre successful Rajkot.

“I had written to the Union wellness curate making the lawsuit that CGHS beneficiaries request a wellness centre successful Rajkot arsenic they had sought my assistance successful the matter,” Kundariya, who was besides a erstwhile Rajkot MP, told The Indian Express.

However, determination is hardly immoderate progress. Meanwhile, JP Nadda became the caller Union wellness minister. In 2024, helium adjacent visited the metropolis to inaugurate the Viral Research and Diagnostics Laboratory (VRDL) astatine AIIMS Rajkot.

Distribution of CGHS Covered Cities successful Major States

Despite repeated attempts to scope Ahmedabad CGHS Additional Director Dr RK Kaine, helium remained unavailable for comment.

Why the request for a section centre

“Only erstwhile a wellness centre is established successful a city, accidental Rajkot, tin hospitals beryllium empanelled nether CGHS successful that aforesaid city. Indoor cashless facilities tin lone beryllium availed astatine specified empanelled hospitals and AIIMS. Patients tin get exigency procedures done successful different hospitals but they volition get reimbursed lone astatine CGHS rate. If determination is simply a wellness centre, past it would beryllium easier for beneficiaries,” says Unnikrishnan Nair, All Gujarat Central Government Pensioners’ Association general-secretary.

Another beneficiary, a retired subordinate of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), who lives successful Gandhidham, Kutch, had to marque aggregate trips to Ahmedabad conscionable to person a CGHS paper made for himself. “It takes a afloat time conscionable to question to Ahmedabad and successful my case, it took aggregate trips to rectify the day of commencement connected my card. Since determination is nary online strategy to close it, I had to get it done physically,” helium says.

Some similar 73-year-old Chandrakant Parmar, whose 65-year-old woman Heena suffers from an highly uncommon neurodegenerative disease, person nary enactment but to entree backstage healthcare. “It takes 15-20 minutes to assistance my woman to the bathroom. Besides, she has terrible equilibrium issues. Ahmedabad is simply a destination excessively acold for her,” says Parmar, who retired from the state-owned telecom relation BSNL successful 2012.

“Even if I spell to the CGHS wellness centre successful Ahmedabad, they volition notation maine to an empanelled hospital. We would past person to hold for an assignment and enactment successful Ahmedabad. I besides considered moving to Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) for elder citizens but the Rs 5 lakh sum comes obscurity adjacent to the broad scope of treatments covered nether CGHS,” helium adds.

Navneet Hindocha, who retired from the Income Tax successful 2012, has been bedridden for the past 1 twelvemonth owed to a hep bony fracture and consequent complications arising from it. On the imaginable of moving from CGHS to PMJAY, the 72-year-old Hindocha, who is the erstwhile president of the Rajkot Central Government Pensioners’ Association, said, “The basal statement against moving to PMJAY is that it is simply a constricted strategy dissimilar CGHS. Further, it is the government’s work to supply america with the facilities to entree the strategy for which it already took a ample magnitude of wealth arsenic premium erstwhile we retired.”

Another retiree said, “We person paid the authorities to supply america with services written successful the regulations of CGHS. Now that the authorities has already taken our money, it cannot alteration the presumption of the statement and expect america to determination betwixt schemes conscionable due to the fact that it doesn’t privation to supply america with the services that person already been paid for.”

VD Pandya, 62, who retired from the bureau of the Comptroller and Accountant-General (CAG) successful Rajkot successful February 2021, cannot avail the afloat scope of CGHS facilities either due to the fact that of mobility issues fixed his bosom condition. His woman Kalpana says, “He had an Arrhythmia Control Device (ACD), besides known arsenic a pacemaker, implanted successful 2012, which had to beryllium replaced successful 2019. He besides has 3 stents. He cannot question agelong distances.”

Pandya, successful October 2024, paid Rs 1.7 lakh for an exigency treble hernia country astatine a backstage infirmary successful Bhavnagar due to the fact that helium could not question to Ahmedabad. Pandya does not cognize however overmuch of this magnitude volition beryllium reimbursed, if astatine all.

Why AIIMS Rajkot is not the option

While AIIMS Rajkot started OPD/IPD facilities for CGHS card-holders, determination is simply a caveat — they person to root medicines from a CGHS wellness centre. “Now the occupation for the card-holders of the Saurashtra and Kutch portion is that they person to get medicines from the centre successful Ahmedabad, astir 250 km away,” says Parmar, who is starring the consciousness run of retired authorities pensioners for whom healthcare abruptly seems challenging.