The new Central Government plans to totally revamp the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) for the benefit of Central Government employees and pensioners.

The decision follows various complaints related to the scheme, especially on the arrangement introduced by the former Government a few months ago to restrict the treatment for the beneficiaries from super-specialty hospitals only if the illness could not be treated at State-run hospitals, according to Dr R Anbumani, the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare.

The minister said a total revamp of CGHS was on cards following complaints from the senior citizens about the ordeal they have to face like long wait for meeting doctors and lack of adequate medicines at the CGHS scheme centers. Further, he has observed numerous complaints about lack of adequate infrastructure at the CGHS dispensaries and lack of proper distribution system for medicines under the scheme, said the minister in Chennai, on Sunday.

As per the earlier CGHS system, retired beneficiaries could have availed the services of private super specialty hospitals and could seek reimbursement of expenses, sources said. But, recently the Government modified the scheme making it mandatory for referral from CGHS authorities before beneficiaries could take specialized treatment at Government or corporate hospitals.

The pensioners had complained that the number of state-run CGHS dispensaries was inadequate to cater to their requirements and the quality of treatment was poor, in most parts of the country. For example, though Chennai has 12 CGHS dispensaries with five doctors each, only one dispensary was authorized to approve requests for treatment in super specialty or government hospitals. Often patients have to wait for weeks to get an appointment with the one or two specialists at the hospitals. Similarly, the supply of medicines through the CGHS dispensaries was erratic, even in the case of life-saving drugs, the pensioners had complained vociferously and had appealed for a total revamp of the system.

The minister is learnt to have said the center was planning to introduce a comprehensive health insurance policy for the rural population on a large scale. The focus of the project would be to set up adequate medical infrastructure in rural villages as currently eighty percent of the hospitals are in cities, in contrary to the fact that 80 per cent of the people live in villages, said the minister.