The entire railway healthcare network of hospitals and health units across the country now are covered under the National Health Authority (NHA) which brings it under the ambit of the Centre’s insurance scheme of Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PM JAY).
This follows a memorandum of understanding signed by the Ministry of Railways executive director health (general) Dr. Sridhar Krishnappa with the NHA represented by Dr. Pankaj Kumar Arora earlier this month.
It will enable financial coverage of up to ₹5 lakh in the empanelled public and private hospitals for the beneficiary who need not be from the railway family. Hitherto, except during the peak COVID waves or during emergencies, the railway healthcare institutions were exclusively for the employees and their families, including the retired, who continue to get free treatment.
After this, the railway hospitals will not charge any money from the beneficiary for any cost related to the treatment including diagnostics, drugs and medicine, consumables, special consultation visits, food, hospitals stay, etc., said an official communique from the Railway Board to the general managers in all zones across the country.
The 91 railway hospitals spread in various zones will be reimbursed for the cost of the treatment under the scheme and at each of these places, a registration counter has to be set up for generation of the identity card with proper IT backup. A medical coordinator (part-time) and a non-medical coordinator (full-time) has to be appointed to facilitate the beneficiary management.
The NHA has laid down the process and terms for extending portability of benefits to all the Ayushman Bharat beneficiaries across the railway hospitals network in the country. It means beneficiaries from other States will also be treated in different hospitals and the claim amount will be paid by the respective patient State.
Biometrics
The Railway Board has also requested the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Unique Identification Authority of India for facilitating Aadhaar authentication services on voluntary basis to establish identity of the candidate appearing in the computer-based test before examination or during course of examination conducted by the Railway Recruitment Control Board through the 21 RRBs, in another gazette notification issued recently.
