Tripura: Medical reimbursement rejected for Kali Sankar Baidya

Source:-https://www.thenortheasttoday.com

Kali Sankar Baidya’s application seeking medical reimbursement for a total expenditure of Rs.3,72,031 was rejected because he did not obtain a prior referral order from the Medical Board.

Challenging the rejection order, Baidya approached the High Court and contended that he had applied for a referral order before going for treatment outside the state but because of deteriorating health conditions he did not wait for it and instead approached the Vellore Hospital.

However, the Government opposed his plea by raising two objections.

One being that there was no referral order allowing him to take the treatment from outside the state.

The second being that there were no extraordinary urgent grounds for him to have travelled outside the state for his treatment without presenting himself before the Medical Board.

Chief Justice Akil Kureshi overruled the objections raised by the state government and observed that going by the stand of the respondents, if the petitioner had presented himself before the Medical Board and waited long enough for the Board to respond to his request for a grant or a referral order, the same would have been given.

Only on that ground to deny the benefit of reimbursement of medical expenditure would interpret the policy of the Government too rigidly.

The Chief Justice also ordered that under the circumstances, the respondents are directed to process the medical reimbursement bills of the petitioner within eight weeks.