New Delhi, Sep 7 (IANS): In a significant achievement to strengthening the country's health infrastructure and accessibility to CGHS services, there has been a threefold increase in the number of Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) Wellness Centres, said Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday while inaugurating virtually a CGHS Wellness Centre in Silchar, Assam.
"The cities covered by CGHS Wellness Centres have grown from 25 in 2014 to 75 now. This is in line with vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji to provide easily accessible healthcare services closer to the communities," Mandaviya stated.
The Union Health Minister reiterated the commitment of the Central Government to providing easily accessible quality healthcare services to the beneficiaries. He stated that the new CGHS centre at Silchar will provide healthcare services to serving and retired Central Government employees residing not only in Silchar but neighbouring districts of Karimganj and Hailakandi and the Barak Valley.
Mandaviya pointed out, "Despite Silchar being one of the major cities in Barak Valley, beneficiaries had to travel more than 180 km to avail of CGHS facilities from Aizawl or 208 km to Shillong. The new Wellness Centre would cater to the medical needs of several thousands of beneficiaries and would mitigate their hardships, as they will not be required to travel to such far away places now."
The Wellness Centre will provide outpatient services including medicines, referral for investigations as well as indoor treatment at government and empanelled hospitals. Cashless facilities for treatment will be provided in empanelled hospitals.
"With the new CGHS Wellness Centre, Silchar is the third city in Assam after Guwahati and Dibrugarh to have CGHS facilities. The Wellness Centre is one of the 16 new CGHS centres being set up across the country in the government's endeavour to expand the coverage and improve the accessibility of CGHS services," Mandaviya said.
"The Union Health Ministry is working on several fronts to improve the services being provided by CGHS to its beneficiaries. Grievance redressal by daily monitoring in mission mode, expediting bill reimbursements, expanding network of private hospital empanelment and other steps have led to quick reimbursements and a decrease in pendency of such cases," he added.