Honorable Minister for Health and Family Welfare,
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
Government of India
Nirman Bhawan
New Delhi.

Subject  -  Urgent Appeal for Centralized Processing of IPD/OPD Medical Bills for Retired Air India Employees CGHS IPD/OPD via the NHA platform

Hon’ble Sir,

We, the retired employees of Air India are writing this Urgent Appeal, more like an SOS, with a deep sense of respect and urgency, seeking your kind intervention in a matter that significantly affects our well-being and dignity. 

You may kindly be aware, before the disinvestment of Air India Ltd., we were the beneficiaries of a robust and comprehensive medical coverage scheme, which assured us of cashless OPD/ IPD/ Tests/ Investigations/ Medicines through Air India’s well-established network all over India for self and family. Post-disinvestment of Air India to TATA, the responsibility of providing medical coverage was assumed by the Central Government, as was duly approved by the AISAM as a very special case at par with government employees, identifying CGHS as the most suitable and analogous alternative for continuing our medical benefits. 

The transition to CGHS OPD & IPD comes with major stumbling blocks.  For OPD services referrals are issued by CGHS dispensary that allow us to avail treatment in hospitals and private clinics. However, the implementation of cashless IPD/ OPD services in hospitals/ private clinics has not materialised at all, as envisioned. As per the Orders issued by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare it was notified that CGHS-IPD management shall be given through the National Health Authority platform.  But fait accompli followed us there too that defeated the purpose of CGHS medical treatment in the first stage itself. Instead of National Health Authority we were erroneously given AIAHL-UTIITSL platform in violation of the Orders of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare F.No.1-14/2022-CGHS/C&P/DIR/ CGHS. At the same time, neither the entitlement is published on our Cards nor a Special Category ‘ORANGE’ card as notified has been provided to us so far for unknown reasons. But instead, a ‘YELLOW’ card with ‘A’ Autonomous category is being issued that leads to utter confusion among HCOs.

Sudden change from The National Health Authority (NHA) to UTIITSL has become the biggest nightmare of Air India retirees. Neither the hospitals are empanelled with UTIITSL nor do they respond well on on boarding new hospitals.  Resultant we retirees have been running hospital to hospital for last one year and are completely exasperated. As a last resort, we are approaching you to appeal to you that UTIITSL system, unfortunately, has not met our needs. It has resulted in denial and deprivation of cashless service and considerable distress among us, the senior citizens the retirees. The cause of reluctance to onboard hospitals is that it takes a very long time for settling hospitals bills therefore hospitals are not in a position to extend credits running into 8 months to beyond a year. 

The absence of a pension scheme for Air India retirees compounds the issue, placing a heavy financial burden on us, particularly in emergency situations. The challenges are exacerbated for those residing outside metropolitan areas, who must fend for themselves without familial support. However, in emergency situation we may get reimbursed but under the present system we have to pay for every treatment service and wait for several months to get reimbursements which is often denied on trivial reasons-e.g. govt’s PGIMER has to prepare bill as per the UTIITSL billing protocol. Therefore, this defeats the purpose of medical facility. 

The direct impact is felt in the Eastern, Western, Southern regions of India, where the scarcity of CGHS empanelled hospitals and their reluctance to provide cashless inpatient care to Air India retirees, despite CGHS directives, makes us highly vulnerable.

In the light of these circumstances, we humbly request that the processing of our IPD /OPD/ tests/investigations related bills from CGHS-empanelled hospitals and HCOs, based on CGHS referrals, be centralized under the NHA, with oversight and management by CGHS. This would mirror the efficient arrangement already in place for OPD services and ensure a smooth, reliable process for IPD coverage.

We believe that the NHA, with its proven expertise, who is already processing the HCO’s bills for close to 45 lakhs central government CGHS beneficiaries, besides large numbers of beneficiaries of other medical schemes, can seamlessly integrate the additional responsibility of servicing about 50,000 retired Air India beneficiaries. The central budget has adequate allocations for such services, which can be channelized to CGHS as is currently being done for availing their OPD services. 

Your esteemed office’s positive response to our appeal would not only alleviate the denial and deprivation of cashless IPD/OPD faced by the retired Air India community but also stand as a testament to the government’s commitment to the welfare of its former employees who served the nation with distinction & devotion. 

We place our trust in your leadership and compassion, hopeful for a resolution that upholds our right to accessible and dignified healthcare.

Thanking you,

Yours sincerely,

AIR INDIA COLLECTIVE
Welfare Body of Retired Employees of Air India 
For any query: Convenor (9811793027) arunavlokitta@gmail.com