Hyderabad, May 31 (IANS) Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and state Congress president Mahesh Goud on Sunday met AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge here.

The Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister and other senior leaders called on Kharge at the Novotel Hotel near Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Shamshabad.

AICC In-charge for Telangana Meenakshi Natarajan was also present during the meeting.

Kharge had stopped en route from New Delhi to Gulbarga in Karnataka.

Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) described it as a courtesy call.

According to party sources, the meeting lasted for an hour and a half. Current political developments in the state and government programmes were reportedly discussed during the meeting.

Meanwhile, CMO said in a statement on Sunday that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy will hold a review meeting with officials regarding the implementation of the Employees’ Health Scheme, which the government is introducing to ensure health security for employees and pensioners in Telangana.

The review meeting is scheduled on Monday.

This scheme will be implemented through the Employee Health Care Trust. The Trust will comprise eight members — six representatives from employee associations and two from pensioners’ associations, the CMO said.

A state government employee will be appointed as the CEO of this Trust. The formation of this committee is likely to be announced on Monday.

The process of collecting the necessary details for the implementation of this scheme has already commenced. The Finance Department has issued a circular to all government departments, directing them to collect the details of government employees, pensioners, and their family members.

The circular explicitly stated that this data must be uploaded by May 31. Based on these details, the government will take measures to issue digital health cards and provide cashless medical treatment services.

The State Cabinet on February 23 approved the Employees’ Health Scheme, which will cover 3.56 lakh employees, 2.88 lakh pensioners, and their dependent family members (a total of 17.07 lakh beneficiaries).

It was announced that treatment will be completely cashless in all government hospitals and 652 empanelled private hospitals. This will cover 1,998 medical procedures.

Employees will contribute 1.5 per cent of basic pay while there will be a matching contribution from the government. The Trust will have an annual outlay of Rs 1,056 crore (Rs 528 crore each by employees and government).

–IANS

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