Govt official medical treatment abroad open ended costs to be borne by taxpayers? DoPT RTI

DOP&T/R/2013/63757

07sept'13




Please provide me with following information:-

1) Copy of DoPT letter to Chief Secretaries of all States dated 02nd September 2013 pertaining to Government bearing actual cost of medical treatment abroad for upto two months for IAS, IPS and IFS officers as reported in Economic Times of today vide article appended below:-

Treatment abroad: Government to reimburse the total cost incurred by bureaucrats
By Aman Sharma, ET Bureau  7 Sep, 2013, 05.59AM IST

NEW DELHI: An ailing economy and an emerging destination for medical tourism, India has just made it easier for its bureaucrats and their immediate family members to fly abroad for treatment at the governments expense.

The Centre has decided to reimburse the total cost of treatment abroad as well as fund the return airfare for IAS, IPS and IFS officers, changing the 30-year-old rules at a time the government is facing flak for the countrys worrisome fiscal health just months ahead of the general elections.

In a vigorous modification to the 1983 rules that some critics have derided as something of a killer overdose in an economy that needs urgent belt-tightening, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has informed the chief secretaries of all states on September 2 through a letter, a copy of which has been accessed by ET, that the government will bear the actual cost of treatment abroad for two months.

The previous rules did not include airfare, and the government reimbursed the medical expenditure only to the extent the same treatment would cost in a private ward at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi.

As per the revised rules, the government will reimburse airfare not only for the bureaucrat but also one accompanying attendant subject to a decision by a committee of bureaucrats to be set up at the state and central levels.

The entitlement for the airfare as well as the medical treatment will now be the same as that of an IFS officer of the corresponding grade stationed abroad.

Given the high entitlement of an IFS officer overseas, every bureaucrat can easily claim the actual medical expenses abroad. Government officers were facing a lot of financial hardship due to the earlier rules, said a DoPT official, who did not wish to be named, describing the modifications as progressive while admitting that the new rules might end up burning a hole in the governments pocket given the high cost of medical treatment abroad.

2) Copy of file pertaining to the above letter along with file notings.

Thank you
Veeresh Malik