In a recent move, the Supreme Court said that reimbursement cannot be denied to over 44 lakh current and retired government employees and their families even if they received treatment in a hospital not empanelled under the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS). This decision was an outcome of the PIL filed by former Indian Revenue Service officer and advocate who was treated for a heart ailment and the expenditure in the treatment was around Rs 13.8 lakh. After repeated representations made to the government, an amount of Rs 5.84 lakh was reimbursed based on rates fixed under CGHS.
Further, he then approached the SC for reimbursement of the rest of the amount. The bench announced that “no fetters” could be placed on the rights of a government employee during his lifetime to get the best medical treatment and it was wrong to reimburse bills based on rates fixed under CGHS in case the…
