The Hindu : New Delhi News : Court asks Telecom Dept. to reimburse medical expenses

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Sunday, Jul 06, 2008
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Court asks Telecom Dept. to reimburse medical expenses

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has asked the Telecom Department to reimburse the entire medical expenses of one of its employees who had undergone open heart surgery at a private hospital here in 2000.

The employee had raised a bill of Rs.2,30,306 on his surgery but the Department had agreed to reimburse only Rs.1,30,612 saying that the CGHS rules did not permit full payment of his treatment expenses.

However, a Division Bench of the Court comprising Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice J.R. Midha dismissed the CGHS plea observing that the petitioner, Balram Sharma, would not be denied full reimbursement of the treatment expenses if the Union Health Ministry had not revised the rates of reimbursement to Central Government employees for a long time.

The petitioner had earlier approached the Central Administrative Tribunal after the Department rejected his plea and paid only Rs.1,30,612. Sharma approached the High Court in an appeal against the CAT decision. The Bench directed the Department to reimburse the remaining amount (Rs.99,694) of the total expenses to the petitioner within four weeks.

The Court also imposed costs of Rs.10,000 on the Department and asked it to pay the amount to the patient for subjecting him to mental harassment.

The petitioner had suffered a heart attack when he was on an official tour in Bhopal. After preliminary tests there, the doctor had referred him to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi for further treatment. The AIIMS doctors had thereafter referred him to Escorts Hospital here for a by-pass surgery. The petitioner had also taken prior permission from the Department for the surgery.

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