Patna, 06 February (ABN) Bihar Legislative Assembly Speaker Prem Kumar on Friday directed the state government to hold a meeting within a week to take a final decision on the demand for providing cashless treatment facilities to the members of the House and their dependents.
Intervening during the reply to a short notice question by BJP MLA Raghuvendra Pratap Singh in the House, Speaker Mr. Kumar said that a meeting should be called within a week to solicit suggestions from the members of the House on this demand. He assured the House that this meeting would be the final one for this decision.
Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister Sushrat Choudhary, while responding, said that the state government is providing better facilities than cashless medical facilities. He said that except for the initial expense arrangement, there is no other difficulty in the medical facility being provided at present.
Mr. Choudhary later said, on the insistence of the members, that a meeting would be called to solicit suggestions before taking a final decision on cashless medical facilities. Even after that, when the demand for providing cashless medical facilities continued from the members, Mr. Choudhary said that the government intends to agree on this, but a meeting would be held for this.
BJP MLA Raghuvendra Pratap Singh had earlier said in the House through supplementary questions that the members of the Legislative Assembly do not have the facility of cashless treatment and have to wait for a long time for the refund of expenses after treatment.
BJP MLA Jivesh Mishra also supported this demand and asked the government to remove the obstacles in the implementation of the cashless system and implement it soon. He said that there is no need to wait for the meeting and the decision should be taken immediately.
Mr. Choudhary, seeing the seriousness of the matter and the mood of the members of the House, assured that the government is committed to providing better health facilities to the employees. On this, Speaker Prem Kumar intervened and directed the government to hold a meeting within a week and take a final decision on the matter.
Mr. Singh had earlier raised the demand for cashless medical facilities for the members of the Legislative Assembly through a short notice question, saying that retired employees working under the central government and their dependents have the benefit of unlimited door-to-door medical facilities. He said that serving and retired officers and employees, former members, and their dependents in neighboring states like Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand are covered under health insurance schemes and are being provided with cashless treatment facilities.
