Fixed Medical Allowance likely to Revise Rs 3 Thousand per month - Committee Recommended

Govt has taken so many steps to reform the benefits applicable to Govt employees and pensioners, we should remain aware of them. The Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice (Chair: Mr. Sushil Kumar Modi) presented its report on ‘Pensioner’s Grievances -Impact of Pension Adalats and Centralised Pensioners Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS)’ on December 10, 2021.

As on March 31, 2020, there were around 66.7 lakh central government pensioners (including family pensioners) in India. As on date the figure has increased to more than 72 Lakh. Key observations and recommendations of the Committee include the Fixed Medical Allowances are as under :

Medical facilities: The Committee noted that the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) is limited to a few state capitals and large urban centres only. For pensioners who reside outside the CGHS areas, a fixed medical allowance of Rs 1,000 is granted per month for meeting expenditure on day-to-day medical expenses. The Committee recommended: (i) opening CGHS centres at district locations or designating functional government hospitals in district headquarters as CGHS centres, and (ii) enhancing the fixed medical allowance to Rs 3,000 per month for pensioners.The matter is now pending for approval of the Ministry of Finance as initiated by DoP & PW. We may know the outcome by the end of this year.