Fixed Medical Allowance - Report of the Committee on Allowances

Fixed Medical Allowance - Report of the Committee on Allowances

5.5.3 Fixed Medical Allowance (FMA) (Para 8.17.52)

Existing Provisions: Fixed Medical Allowance is granted to pensioners for meeting expenditure on day to day medical expenses that do not require hospitalization, at present payable at the rate of ₹500 pm.

Recommendations of 7th CPC: The 7th CPC has mentioned that this allowance was enhanced from ₹300 pm to ₹500 pm from 19.11.2014. As such, further enhancement of this allowance was not recommended.

Demands:

I. National Council (Staff Side), JCM: The rate of the allowance may be raised to ₹2000/- per month as most of the retired personnel suffer from diseases and are required to spend a sizeable amount of their income on medicines.

II. D/o Posts: Rates to be revised to ₹2000 per month.

III. Ministry of Defence: The rate of this allowance may be revised to ₹2000 per month.

Analysis and Recommendations of the Committee:

The Committee observes that Fixed Medical Allowance is granted to a pensioner to meet medical expenses for self and spouse. It is extended to only those pensioners who are not covered under CGHS or equivalent schemes. As compared to pensioners covered under CGHS / equivalent, pensioners getting FMA do not have the facility of in-hospital treatment. FMA was introduced at the rate of ₹100 per month in 1997. It was subsequently revised to ₹300 pm in 2008 and again to ₹500 pm in the year 2014. The present rate of ₹500 per month seems to be inadequate considering the increased cost of medicine and medical supplies. Therefore, the Committee recommends that the rate of FMA be increased to ₹ 1000 per month from the existing rate of ₹ 500 per month.

The additional financial implications on account of the changes proposed by the Committee is estimated to be around ₹300 crore per annum and will benefit more than 5 lakh pensioners.

The Committee also recommends that appropriate checks such as Aadhar seeding of CGHS cards are put in place to ensure that FMA is paid to only those pensioners who are not covered by CGHS/ ECHS or any other health scheme of the Government.

Authority: www.doe.gov.in