Hyderabad: The Telangana government on Friday, July 17, launched the New Employees Health Scheme (NEHS), offering cashless and transparent healthcare services to 17.88 lakh government employees, pensioners and their dependent family members.
Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Health Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha launched the scheme at the Dr B.R. Ambedkar Telangana Secretariat. They also unveiled the Employees Health Care Trust (EHCT) trust deed, launched the NEHS web portal and released digital health cards for beneficiaries.
Under the scheme, beneficiaries will receive cashless treatment at 886 private and 114 government hospitals, including Apollo, Yashoda, KIMS, Medicover, Kamineni, Continental, CARE, STAR and Basavatarakam hospitals.
Rajanarasimha said the Congress government has consistently prioritised healthcare, education and welfare, noting that Rajiv Aarogyasri, the Employees Health Scheme and the Journalists Health Scheme were all introduced under previous Congress governments.
He said the NEHS was designed under the leadership of chief minister A Revanth Reddy and deputy chief minister Bhatti Vikramarka after incorporating suggestions from employee and pensioner associations.
The minister said the earlier Employees Health Scheme suffered from low package rates, delays in claim settlements, inadequate participation by super-speciality hospitals and limited employee representation. The new scheme, he said, addresses these shortcomings through a more transparent and sustainable framework.
Scheme covers 17.88 L beneficiaries: Govt
According to the government, the scheme covers 17,88,336 beneficiaries, including 4,38,594 employees, 3,61,955 pensioners and nearly 9.88 lakh family members. The government will contribute an amount equal to employees’ and pensioners’ contributions, with all funds earmarked exclusively for the scheme.
The NEHS includes 1,816 medical and surgical packages aligned with the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS). It will be implemented through the Employees Health Care Trust, headed by the Chief Secretary and comprising 17 government representatives, 10 employee representatives and three pensioner representatives.
Employees and pensioners can download digital health cards through the NEHS portal, while the entire process—from pre-authorisation to claim settlement—will be handled digitally.
The minister also announced plans to expand employee wellness infrastructure. Currently, 12 wellness centres provide outpatient services to around 1,800 people daily. The government plans to establish 24 additional centres, particularly in districts without such facilities, and link them with government hospitals to provide specialist and super-specialist consultations.
Earlier in the day, Bhatti Vikramarka, along with labour minister Gaddam Vivek Venkatswamy, handed appointment letters to 247 newly recruited Nursing Officers under the Insurance Medical Services (IMS) Department.
Addressing the recruits, the deputy chief minister said spending on healthcare and education was a long-term investment in human capital that would drive the state’s economic growth.
He said the government had already filled a record 76,000 government jobs and would further strengthen public healthcare by recruiting 120 Civil Assistant Surgeons, six Dental Civil Surgeons, 99 Pharmacists, 34 Laboratory Technicians, 54 Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) and other paramedical staff.
Bhatti Vikramarka said the government was upgrading ESI hospitals with dialysis units, CT scan facilities, burns wards and cardiac care centres, while expediting multi-super-speciality hospitals at Sanath Nagar, LB Nagar, Alwal and Warangal, and expansion works at NIMS.
He said Telangana was working towards creating a healthcare network with 44,029 hospital beds, which would make it one of the country’s leading states in hospital bed capacity. Insurance Medical Services currently provides healthcare to nearly 75 lakh beneficiaries, he added.
The deputy chief minister also said the government had sanctioned nine new medical colleges, 16 nursing colleges and 28 paramedical colleges, besides the existing 16 medical colleges. He highlighted initiatives such as Advanced Technology Centres, a Skill University in Hyderabad and free overseas employment training through TOMCOM, which provides trainees a monthly stipend of Rs 2,000.
Congratulating the newly appointed nursing officers, Bhatti Vikramarka described nursing as a profession of service and assured continued government investment in healthcare and education.
