New Delhi: Giving a sigh of relief to over 45 lakh central government health service (CGHS) beneficiaries, the Union Health Ministry has suspended the implementation of compulsory linking of CGHS ID with Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) ID until further notice.
The ministry stated that implementation of its earlier order dated March 28, for mandatory linkage of CGHS beneficiaries ID with ABHA ID be kept in abeyance till further orders. "Linkage of CGHS ID with ABHA ID is made voluntary/optional till further orders," an order issued by the directorate of CGHS said.
As per the CGHS dashboard, more than 4.5 million people and 75 cities are covered under the CGHS scheme, of which only 231,134 CGHS IDs had been linked with ABHA ID till June 26. Although the exact reason for cancelling the linkage of CGHS and ABHA ID is not known, experts believe that data privacy concerns and lack of technical infrastructure may have led to the decision.
"When the government issued the order for linking both CGHS and ABHA ID, it raised a lot of concern among the beneficiaries. They were anticipating that the new process may curtail some of the benefits under the CGHS scheme," said Giridhar Gyani, director general of the Association of Healthcare Providers India (AHCP-I).
Gyani said that making the linking voluntary will give some time to the government to address data security concerns and system integration issues.
In an earlier order, the health ministry had made it mandatory for all CGHS beneficiaries to link their beneficiary ID and ABHA ID. The order was scheduled to come into force with effect from April 1, before being extended by another four months from June 30.
