Agrahara Insurance payments top Rs. 183 m

Ananda KANNANGARA

The National Insurance Trust (NIT) yesterday said that a record Rs. 183 million was paid to reimburse medical claims, submitted by employees in Ministries, Departments and Local Government institutions during last month under the Agrahara Medical Scheme.

According to statistics available in the NIT, over 660,000 employees in the Government sector are covered by the `Agrahara Medical Scheme'.

"This is the largest reimbursement we made in the recent past to public servants who were hospitalised for bypass operations, child delivery and for various critical illnesses," NIT, Chairman A. A. Wijayapala told the Sunday Observer.

He said accidental and natural deaths and total disablement caused to public servants due to injuries are also covered under the `Agrahara Medical Scheme'.

According to Public Administration rules and regulations, Rs. 75 is deducted every month from the salaries of permeant employees in Ministries, Departments and Local Government institutions.

"Thereafter, the deducted amount is credited to the `Agrahara Medical Account', in respect of each employee," he said.

He said Rs. 85 million is collected from the salaries of public servants every month and another Rs. 40 million is granted by the Treasury to maintain the account smoothly. Asked why the Public servants are deprived of payments made for Out Patient Department (OPD) treatment, the NIT, Chairman said that the reimbursement made for OPD treatment was scraped due to complaints regarding fake medical bills which were submitted by persons in large numbers.