RESOLUTION- Apex Council Meeting at Ranchi, April12-13, 2015

April 13, 2015

The Apex Council of the Federation reviewed the progress and changes made in the lives and conditions of the SAIL Retirees after their last meeting at Bhilai in September, 2014 and actions initiated thereafter by the Govt. and SAIL and took the decisions which is in http://sailex.blogspot.in/2015/04/minutes-of-apex-council-meeting-ranchi.html  The Council came to the conclusion that SAIL refused  to hear & ignored the issues of the SAIL Retirees like Healthcare and Pension and other financial benefits based on the separate Govt. advice in the form of DPE OMs of 2009 for (i) pre-2007 SAIL Retirees who exist today in real miserable condition and some of them in much worse condition than those in BPL category and(ii) post-2006 SAIL Retirees who are yet in suspense for over 8 years on formulation and implementation of the Pension and other benefit schemes. It further observed that SAIL, a Maharatna Company, continued to overlook the issues of the SAIL Retirees and maintained total silence all through the period

a.    even after our Appeal and the Resolution taken at Bhilai on 21^st Sept 2014 addressed to them alongwith the brief in the document SAIL ignoring its Retirees - Statement of Fact and Appeal for Action in http://sailex.blogspot.in/2015/04/sail-ignoring-its-retirees.html

b.    our request made on 27^th Nov. 2014 for urgent release of payment of arrears to employees of IISCO retired between 01.01.1997 and 31.01.2006 is yet to be looked into. Such a delay of over 9-10 years in decision making does not show SAIL in a good light.

c.     to expedite payment of arrear accruing out of wage revision from 1997 for erstwhile BRL employees, which was a deemed liability on the date of amalgamation i.e. 01/04/2007. A sum of Rs.10000/- was also paid as advance against the same and was not to be recovered as per the notification in the Gazette of India dt. July 28, 2009 justifying the resultant effect of accrual and payability to the retirees.

d.    Delayed implementation of SAIL Mediclaim Policy every time by 3-4 months is making the Policy less effective and adding unnecessary anxiety to the beneficiaries, that is, SAIL Retirees, for larger part of the year even when it is coupled with the issues related not only to the well- being of the Retirees but also to their life and death. 

The Council noted with concern that, in nut shell, the situation for the SAIL Retirees did not change in years before and over the last six months now and in fact has worsened due to the continued apathetic and ever static attitude of both the Govt. of India and SAIL. Still further it was observed that SAIL did not compare itself with PSUs belonging to Oil and Energy sector. Smaller Companies like BEL and BHEL, as also our own sister Steel PSU, the RINL, provided much better financial and Healthcare benefits to their Retirees.

                                                              

The Apex Council also noted the apathy shown by the Govt of India and its various Ministries in dealing with the issues of the SAIL Retirees who happen to be the Senior Citizens of this country, and not adhering to the words and spirit of the Govt. portal on Senior Citizens and recent letter of PM addressed to Senior Citizens in general. Further the Govt. also failed in directing SAIL to resolve the long pending issues of the Retirees on the basis of DPE OMs which were meant for Retirees benefits. Our Expectations from the Union Minister of Steel/ Govt. of India on the Issues before SAIL Retirees (the Senior Citizens) are based on the following Background:

1.     SAIL did not have a Pension Scheme. (When people started retiring and pension proposals were made by the PSUs including SAIL,Govt declared EPS-95 under which retirees are getting a few hundreds only. This is redundant after 2006 due to new pension schemes in the PSUs for post-2006 retirees)

2.     After considering a lot of representations, discussion points and appeals, SCOPE recommended and the DPE issued an OM in July 2009 asking Maharatna PSUs to create a corpus from 1.5 % of their Profit Before Tax (PBT) and prepare a post retirement benefit schemes for pre-2007 retirees.

3.     SAIL refused to follow the DPE OMs in this regard. Our innumerable request to SAIL for a meeting as well as preparing a Scheme under OMs as also to the whole lot of Ministers, Officials incl. PM remained without any response.

4.     SAIL is providing in its accounts 30% of total salary payment over and above it towards retirement benefit such as Gratuity, PF contribution by SAIL, Health benefit & Pension for post-2006 retirees. SAIL had not made any such provision & its contribution for retirement benefits of pre-2007 retirees has been much less –around 16%. Thus having born earlier and  worked from the inception of SAIL/HSL and helping to lay a strong foundation under a very difficult environment and working conditions (during 1950/60s) to make proud of it as Maharatna has been a sin for these pre-2007 retirees.

5.     Worse of it all is that SAIL or the Government Officials responsible for finding solution and helping the Retirees / Senior Citizens do not respond to our communications because of which the Communication gap and misunderstanding between the Retirees and SAIL/Government system increases

Considering the facts detailed above the two day meeting of the FORSE Apex Council at Ranchi resolved  the following:

A.     The SAIL Chairman and Members of the SAIL Board be requested to listen to our problems and grievances (attached as Annexure I) arising out of their inaction for over the past 6 years& more and take immediate actionfor improving

i.        the financial condition by way of some minimum monthly payment and

ii.      Healthcare conditions with a mission and empathy

of the Retirees to make them live with dignity at their very old age.

B.     The Hon’ble Union Minister of Steel / Govt. of India be requested to advise SAIL

a) to recognize FORSE and hold discussions on regular intervals and settle the out-standing issues of the retirees

b)     to implement the DPE OMs for pre-2007 and post -2006 category of Retirees without further delay, if need be, by

                                   i.       Permitting transfer of unclaimed Provident Fund money to the SAIL corpus

                                  ii.       Transferring back 1% of the dividend money

                                 iii.       Starting a Fixed deposit scheme for retirees with ROI at par with the interest rates paid by SAIL on money borrowed from the market.

                                 iv.       Implementing with a mission & empathy an effective, efficient and functioning Healthcare scheme at par with those available to current employees with or without Mediclaim Insurance with provision of annual increase in the cost of healthcare as they do not have any other support. 

C.     Apex Council authorized the Office Bearers to go for the following time bound Action Plan in case of no positive action by the Government/ SAIL in a reasonable time period:

I.       All Member Associations shall publicize the contents of the Resolution through Press Conference/ Press Releases by May2015 end.

II.      All Member Associations shall hand over a copy of the Resolution to the Head of the SAIL Offices in their location on 15^th June 2015.

III.    All Member Associations shall hand over a copy of the Resolution to the Head of the Government/ Head of the Administration/MPs in their location by 15^thJuly 2015

In case the response of SAIL or the Govt is not favourable to the Retirees the Apex Council may initiate peaceful non-violent agitational programme like Hunger strike etc.

(V. N. Sharma)

                                                                                                                                               Chairman

M: 9431102680,

Ph:0651-2441524

SAIL ignoring its Retirees

SAIL ignoring its Retirees - Statement of Fact and Appeal for Action

21.09.2014

It has been quite an experience which followed five years of one sided correspondence with SAIL and, a number of departments and officials of the Govt of India including the Prime Minister, for and on behalf of SAIL Retirees by SAIL Ex-Employees Association (ref. http://saileea.blogspot.in), an affiliated member Association of the recently formed Federation of Retired SAIL Employees (FORSE) related mostly to the pre-2007 retirees numbering about 35000 as of now and 70000 of those retired post-01.01.2007. The emphasis of the approach was to request SAIL to formulate and implement schemes for various types of relief to both categories of the Retirees and their spouse in line with the Govt. advice given through DPE OMs for ‘creation of a corpus for retired employees of SAIL with 1.5% of the PBT’ for pre-2007 retirees and similar action for the post-01.01.2007 retirees. As of now SAIL is already lagging behind by 5 years whereas Maharatna companies like Oil sector and others have implemented the DPE OMs. It is interesting to note that SAIL never responded to our direct communications, except through RTI. It failed to agree to a meeting with its retirees’ representatives except for once when SAIL Chairman was persuaded by an MP and the meeting ended with a pep talk and assurances that were never fulfilled in last 2 years. Action taken against our request for arranging a meeting of SAIL with FORSE, formulation of pension / post retirement benefit schemes and inefficient functioning of mediclaim insurance and corrective action  in association with National Insurance Company and the TPA E-meditek, all through these 9 months were also not very encouraging as if retirees were a non-existent entity. It is a point to note that on the contrary, ONGC holds periodic meetings with its retirees’ representatives on a regular basis.

The two responses received lately from SAIL dated 3^rd and 9^th May 2014 came only through the office of the President of India (can be seen in http://sailex.blogspot.in/2014/05/letter-to-sail-chairman.html ) the last sentence of the 3^rd para of which reads as “….SAIL has spent an average of 2% of the PBT on providing Mediclaim coverage to all ex-employees and their spouses.” This is a concocted deceptive claim by as SAIL appears to have exaggerated the figure by including the Healthcare expenses of the post-2006 Retirees in this data whereas SAIL is providing in its accounts 30% of total salary payment over and above it towards retirement benefit such as Gratuity, PF contribution by SAIL, Health benefit & Pension for post-2006 retirees. It must be noted that 1.5% of PBT in the DPE OM is only for pre-2007 Retirees.SAIL has gone to silent mode again and the letter to SAIL Chairman dated 26^th May 2014, (in the above link) pointing out that it was a wrong interpretation of the DPE OMs by SAIL which were clearly made out in the light of the suffering of the retirees due to the insufficient post-retirement benefits esp. in view of the current mode of the national economy with the uncontrolled price rise and ever rising cost of living including health care, remained unanswered. It is demeaning for a Maharatna like SAIL to ignore the Govt. advice made through the DPE OMs and, dump the idea of welfare of the early retirees and treat them in this manner. SAIL, instead, should have acted the way the Oil sector companies did. Even after spending more than 2 % of the PBT before the DPE OMs came the Oil sector Maharatnas followed the OMs, prepared and implemented the schemes which carries pension, ex-gratia and emergency payments alongwith the medicare of their retirees at par with the current employees. Since the corpus is to be created from SAIL’s Profit, no budgetary support is required.  SAIL also need to keep in mind that as these pioneer retirees are 70 and 80 years old, the corpus will not be required perennially. It must not be forgotten by SAIL that the strong foundation laid by these pioneers in the formative years (1950s/60s) and the commitment, hard work and contributions made by these retirees under very hard times contributed to make SAIL the pride of the nation as Maharatna today.  Also that SAIL has attained this stage only by virtue of its consistent financial strength and its contribution to development of the country in various aspects.

The pre - 2007 retirees who are in their 70s and 80s had retired at a time when inflation was not a big menace and most of the banks paid a handsome rate of interest which were in the range of 12% to 14%, some investments also brought 17-18% return. But times have changed. Now the rate of interest ranges between 9-9.5%. They are put to lot of hardship at twilight of their life due to lowering of income from investments on one side and astronomical increase in cost of living since they retired with meager sums and the increased expenditure on health care (beyond reimbursed amounts) due to old age ailments on the other side. SAIL should also take the blame for not providing Health care of any standard which was and continue to be their committed responsibility which was shifted to mediclaim insurance on some pretext or the other, the quality of which is extremely poor and follows a downward slope by the day. In spite of the exponential price rise in medicines SAIL is sticking to the same Rs. 4000/- per member per year for 60-70 year old which was fixed 19 years ago in 1995 and Rs. 8000/- for 70+ year old members done recently. For over one lakh retirees SAIL’s claim in the letter in the above link ‘SAIL has sufficient facilities/ schemes in place to take care of the medical requirements of its ex-employees including Executives, as envisaged under DPE OMs dated 08/07/2009 and 20/07/2011 with respect to ‘Creation of a corpus for retired Executives of CPSEs’ is quite hollow and it needs re-thinking by SAIL and the Govt. with an open mind, with the letter and spirit of the OMs and the prevailing sense of responsibility and mood in sister Maharatna PSUs.

In view of the fact that SAIL has cumulative Reserve/Cash Surplus of Rs.38536 crores as on 31^st March of FY 2013-14, the total contribution to exchequer till 2013-14 must be more than Rs. 120, 000 crores and the total of PBT from 1.1.2007 till 2013-14 is Rs. 52272 crores (including 1/4^th of 2006-07) creation of a good scheme is quite a feasible proposition. As it stands Finance is not a problem for SAIL as it has been earning profit for more than 10 years. Since the principle of the creation of corpus for pre-2007 retirees is accepted by the Government, no further approval of Parliament is required and it requires only an Administrative decision for time-bound implementation. In the light of such a strong financial position there is no visible and comprehendible reason for the overall out and out negative attitude and approach of SAIL with respect to the retirees and it is strongly desired that the Government must intervene and advise SAIL suitably to act in favor of the retirees. After all the retirees are not here to exist for ever and do not have time to wait for indefinite period for SAIL to take a favorable decision. 

In the 2014 post-general election days three letters sent to the Prime Minister, one to the Finance Minister and 4 letters to the Union Minister of Steel and three letters to Chairman SAIL and similar letters to a dozen Members of Parliament, in addition to numerous telephone calls, for help in this regard did not have any effect. In summing up of the issues before the Federation SAIL’s record in relation to its retirees does not warrant appreciation as it did not implement any pension scheme for the pre- 2007 retirees which needed to be dealt with some urgency, and SAIL has not been impressed upon so far by the political masters to change their stance in favor of the retirees.

Having regard to the facts explained in above paras the basic approach of FORSE is to appeal to the conscience of SAIL and the Govt. of India (i) to hold joint meetings periodically with FORSE representatives on all issues including in negotiation with the insurance companies/TPA regarding mediclaim since retirees contribute about 15% of the total subscription for mediclaim insurance. (It is legally and technically required to involve FORSE in negotiation on mediclaim insurance) (ii) to permit SAIL to transfer unclaimed money available with the PF Trusts of SAIL Plants and Units to the proposed corpus, (iii) transfer back 1 % of the dividend from SAIL to the corpus and (iv) to advise SAIL to raise the limit in the OMs of DPE from 1.5% to 3-4% (till a reasonable corpus is built up to enable to pay a decent pension) and (v) formulate better schemes for the pre-2007 retirees which should include a Healthcare programme for treating all the retirees at par with the working employees and 100 % coverage like Oil sector companies do for their Retired employees or a Mediclaim policy fully subscribed by SAIL (without sharing of the subscription by the Retired Employees) with indoor treatment limits raised to Rs. Four lacs for each of the retiree and the spouse separately, and OPD limits to Rs. 20000/- with floating arrangement for both OPD and IPD. SAIL can also benefit its retirees by opening Fixed Deposit schemes for its retirees with the rate of interest at par with those borrowed from the market. FORSE also strongly recommended to SAIL to utilise the services of the physically fit retirees as much as possible by giving them specific assignments on contractual basis. This can be done with the active help of the Federation (FORSE) or its Member Associations. In the light of the recent statement of the Union Minister of DoPT for re-employing the Govt retirees, with years of experience behind each one of them, becomes more relevant.

It would only be fair, at this stage, to put on record the ironical situation that other than the early retirees of industrial CPSEs, all other retirees of other CPSEs such as LIC, Nationalised Banks, Government Insurance companies, BSNL, Railways etc are all getting substantial pension besides benefits such as additional interests for bank retirees, free phone calls for BSNL retirees, free travel concessions for Railway retirees etc. The paradox is that the industrial retirees of CPSEs were government controlled employees but not government employees for pension. They are public servants for all purposes except for Pension and post-retirement benefits. It is expected that the Govt would view the cause of these Very Senior Citizen Retirees (those retired before 2007) who are now 70 + with compassion and not by the rule-book alone which itself is doubtfully incorrect at many places. Govt. of India also needs to increase the interest rate on Fixed Bank deposits of the retirees and action to enhance the concession and facilities for Senior Citizens in Hospitals, transport, public utility services by incorporating newer policies.

The stories related to the indoor treatment is much worse as the mediclaim policy taken through an insurance company and operated through a Third Party Administrator (TPA) is extremely inefficient due to yearly renewal of membership for the same members, absence of a standard procedure for settling the grievances. 6-8 months’ time taken for issuance of Mediclaim ID card and the information brochure, almost 6 months to a year for settlement of paid hospital Bills, patient being held by the hospital as a prisoner because of delayed payment clearance by the TPA, overruling of the specialist doctors of the hospital by the doctor employed by the TPA in its head office, large number of listed cappings. TPA withdrawing recognition of the Hospitals for cashless treatment at its own will without any information to the members in advance has ended up with at least one known case of suicide to our information by our member Asit Nandi (IISCO). He committed suicide on account of sheer financial inability to pay back the borrowed money from his relatives and friends due to the TPA not reimbursing his medical expenses in more than 3 months period. The Federation intervened to help him but before he received the payment he had popped off. Thousands of such of our colleagues- in- arms of yesteryears- are reported to be silently suffering and finally vanishing. It should be clear to all concerned that the SAIL retirees are not on begging spree but it should be obligatory on SAIL authorities to take care of the retirees on whose hard work the Company is a Maharatna today.

The Federation also finds the action of SAIL management for not initiating, preparing and implementing Pension schemes for the post-01.01.2007 retirees as disgusting whereas its sister PSU-RINL-has got approved a scheme (with 10% of total salary of each employee as company contribution by it) by its Board. This is lying in the Ministry since July 2011 without any action; perhaps waiting for SAIL to clear a scheme. It may please be noted that most of other PSUs – BHEL, NTPC, NLC, Oil PSUs. etc- have already implemented. Out of sheer inefficiency and absence of strong will SAIL has shifted the date of implementing the pension scheme for this category of employees from 1^st January 2007 to 2012.

It is important to examine the contents, meaning and end effect of the private member’s bill introduced on National Minimum Pension (Guarantee) Bill, 2014 to cover pension of retirees of unorganised and private sector through which our voice-voice of FORSE- reverberated in the Lok Sabha. Hon’ble Sri Nishi Kant Dubey, BJP MP from Godda read out on 8^th Aug. 2014 the major portion of our letter dated 26^th July 2014 and successfully drew attention of the House and showed concern for the cause of the SAIL Retirees. It can be seen in  pp 397-8 in http://164.100.47.132/newdebate/16/2/08082014/5To6pm.pdf It makes it amply clear that the MPs and Ministers etc are also not aware of the fact that even the organised sector of the Government do not have any pension scheme for pioneer retirees of the PSUs.

The aforesaid facts are quite discouraging and upsetting to the members. In view of this some of our members have suggested for agitational approach if SAIL does not act within a reasonable time limit. With progress in time this will be further discussed and appropriate decision may be taken as per resolution taken by the Apex Council on 21^st Sept. 2014 which may include dharna, demonstration, hunger strike etc. in front of SAIL offices in respective towns and cities and also the offices of the concerned Govt authorities. Before taking the agitational path FORSE members propose to bring the aforesaid facts to the kind notice of the SAIL Board Members, Honorable MPs of their area the plight of the pioneer retirees of the organized sector of like SAIL which is owned by Government itself. FORSE members have huge expectation from the Media to take action on the same lines to bring awareness on this issue of Senior citizens of the pioneering batches of SAIL employees.

(V. N. Sharma)

Chairman 

M: 9431102680,Ph:0651-2441524

M/s. E-Meditek TPA Services Ltd. will be the TPA for 2015-16 : SAIL Mediclaim Scheme -

SAIL Mediclaim Scheme (2015-16) - Policy details PDF Icon 20 KB

The above subject line leads to the link  

http://sail.co.in/sites/default/files/ticker/Website_upload_SAIL_Mediclaim_Scheme_2015.pdf

which gives the message in the SAIL website. 

Somebody in SAIL should educate us as to where is the Policy and where are the details in the write up. How does it help a sick Retiree as on today? It appears that SAIL is having fun with the life of the Retirees in the name of their Healthcare.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

SAIL Mediclaim Scheme has been renewed for a period of one year from 1 st April, 2015 to 31st March, 2016 with 

M/s. United India Insurance Co. Ltd. (UII). 

M/s. E-Meditek TPA Services Ltd. will be the TPA for the aforesaid period. 

Details with respect to renewal of membership under SAIL Mediclaim Scheme for the aforementioned period, will be circulated to all concerned, shortly. 

For any treatment related enquiries or claim (cashless/ reimbursement) related enquiries, members of SAIL Mediclaim Scheme (members as on 31st March, 2015) may contact M/s. E-Meditek. Contact details of M/s. E-Meditek are as given below: 

 Cashless enquiry: 0124-4149727 (24 hrs Helpline) 

 General Enquiry: 1800-102-8191 

 Email Id (For Insured): help.sail@emeditek.com 

 Email Id (For Hospital related to Cashless request): cashless.sail@emeditek.com

Members may pl. look at the efficiency of SAIL and how they care for us. Does it have any improvement over the last message? 

--

Dr.V.N.Sharma, Chairman 

SAIL Retiree / Spouse in distress needing Cashless Treatment

By e-mail

6th April 2015

Sri C.S.Verma, 

Chairman, SAIL, 

New Delhi

Dear Sir,

Pl. refer to the distress e-mail trail sent by one of the SAIL Retirees Sri S. BABU RAO MIN NO.8200737, RETIRED EMPLOYEE  FROM BTSO, VISAKHAPATNAM.regarding the serious illness of his wife needing immediate attention and treatment in a Hospital with Cashless arrangement which SAIL failed to finalise till today. This,in spite of our raising the issue with you since early October on the basis of the Apex Copuncil Resolution dated 21st Sept 2015 -Para 2 (iii) - available in http://sailex.blogspot.in/2014/09/letter-to-sail-chairman-sail-bod.html which reads as (iii)   To pay total subscription for renewal of mediclaim membership, to make permanent I-card by SAIL, to complete negotiations and settling of terms and conditions with Insurance Co. & the TPA by Oct end and to issue Guidebook etc by December-end. and many repeats of the message from time to time, SAIL failed to complete the finalisation of the SAIL Mediclaim Scheme for its Retirees in given time period that is more than six months- even with a grace period of 3 months during the period of extension from 1st January. 

Sir, is it fair in your opinion to hang the serious issue of SAIL Mediclaim Renewal/ Extension and play with the life of the SAIL Retirees for so long in this manner? It is just opposite to what the Govt portal on Senior Citizen reads. We wish you do not agree with this end result of playing with Retirees life.

With this in mind I request you to kindly make some fast alternative arrangement so that Retirees do not pop off due to inefficient functioning of SAIL, the Insurance Co. and delayed or improper selection of the TPA.

With regards, 

    

--

Dr.V.N.Sharma, Chairman

Federation of Retired SAIL Employees

M: 9431102680; 9437221963

http://tinyurl.com/forsesail 

groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/forsesail      

2015-04-06 15:24 GMT+05:30 sammidi satyanarayana murthy <ssnm1475@gmail.com>

RESPECTED MADAM,

WITH REFERENCE TO THE ABOVE SUBJECT MATTER WE ARE STILL WAITING FOR APPROVAL OF M/S.UNITED INDIA  INSURANCE COMPANY LTD ITS TPA FOR MEDICLAIM SCHEME FROM 1ST APRIL 2015 FOR HOSPITALIZATION FOR CASHLESS TREATMENT. STILL KNOW NO INFORMATION IN WEBSITE.  KINDLY LET US KNOW STILL HOW MANY DAYS IT WILL TAKE TO FINALIZE TPA. WE ARE EAGERLY WAITING FOR ADMISSION IN APPOLLO HOSPITAL FOR TREATMENT. I AM NOT   IN A POSITION TO GO FOR A PAYMENT TREATMENT.

WAITING FOR YOUR REPLY SOON.

THANKS & REGARDS

S.BABU RAO

EX.EMPLOYEE, CMO, VIZAG

CC TO : MR.V.N.SHARMA, CHAIRMAN

              FEDERATION OF RETIRED SAIL EMPLOYEES.

              FOR INFORMATION AND DOING THE NEEDFUL AND KIND 

              CONSIDERATION IN THE ABOVE SUBJECT MATTER. 

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: sammidi satyanarayana murthy <ssnm1475@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Apr 3, 2015 at 7:53 PM
Subject: Request Admission for Apollo Hospital - reg
To: vaanikapoor@gmail.com

Respected Madem,

I S.BABU RAO MIN NO.8200737, RETIRED EMPLOYEE  FROM BTS0, VISAKHAPATNAM.  MY WIFE S.KAMESWARI IS SUFFERING SEVIOUR HEART PROBLEM. THE CONSULTING CARDIOLOGIST  ADVISED IMMEDIATE ADMISSION IN THE HOSPITAL FOR TREATMENT. BUT TO ADMIT HER IN HOSPITAL OUR MEDICLAIM  SCHEME WAS IN FORCE UPTO 31ST MARCH, 2015 ONLY, STILL THE EXTENSION IS NOT GIVEN FORM OUR COMPANY.  IN THE ABOVE CIRCUMSTANCE, I SPOKE WITH YOU ON 02.04.2015 AT 18:00 HRS, AS PER YOUR CONFORMATION I AM ADMITTING MY WIFE, PATENT NAME:S.KAMESWARI MIN.NO.8200738 ADMITTING IN APOLLO HOSPITAL, VISAKHAPATNAM FOR TREATMENT. MY CONTACT NO.0800651475.

THIS IS FOR YOUR INFORMATION AND NECESSARY HELP IMMEDIATELY. KINDLY ACKNOWLEDGE.

S.BABU RAO

EX.EMPLOYEE, CMO, VIZAG.

Our intervention in Selection of TPA for SAIL Mediclaim Policy

e-mail

2nd April 2015

Shri Anil Kumar Chaudhary

Director (Finance)

Steel Authority of India Limited,

New Delhi – 110003

Dear Sri Chaudhary,

Pl. find below our message to the CMD of United India Insurance Co. on fixing up of a more efficient and fast responding TPA. As you can see in the stream of messages in the link sailex.blogspot.in/2015/03/exchange-of-e-mails-with-sail-nic-and.html  the services rendered by the TPA E-meditek was highly unsatisfactory in the expired term. We are not sure about the extent of contribution of the National Insurance Co. and that of the TPA in their malfunctioning but we request you to kindly take note of this and advise the newly contracted Insurance Co., the UIIC to take our request/ suggestions seriously and identify more efficient TPA.

With regards, 

--

Dr.V.N.Sharma, Chairman

Federation of Retired SAIL Employees

e-mail: milindkharat@uiic.co.in

No. FORSE/ UIIC/0115

Dated 2^nd April 2015

Sri Milind A Kharat,

Chairman cum  Managing Director,

United India Insurance Co. Ltd.

CHENNAI.

Sub: issues related to Mediclaim Insurance of SAIL Retirees

Ref: Our message dated 1^st April 2015

Dear Sri Kharat,

It has formally come to our notice that SAIL has renewed the Mediclaim Insurance for its Retirees for a period of one year from 1st April, 2015 to 31st March, 2016 with your Co. - M/s. United India Insurance Co. Ltd.

As we understand the guiding principles of the Healthcare including mediclaim insurance should be the following and they should be accepted and enforced through the period of its effect by the TPA contracted by you without any laxity.

Ø  Portal of the Govt. of India on Senior Citizens reads as “Senior Citizens are a treasure to our society. They have worked hard all these years for the development of the nation as well as the community. They possess a vast experience in different walks of life. The youth of today can gain from the experience of the senior citizens in taking the nation to greater heights. At this age of their life, they need to be taken care of and made to feel special.”

Ø  “The National Council for Senior Citizens formed under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment should take care of promotion of physical and financial security, health and independent and productive living and awareness generation and community mobilization”.

Ø  “Healthcare is directly related to life and death of a Citizen and leaves no chance for a repeat performance. So the benefit of doubt should always be in favour of the patient and there can be no room for laxity of any kind or slow action at any time at either end of the network of SAIL, Insurance Co., the TPA and the patient in cases of Medically Insured Senior Citizens who happen to be SAIL Retirees in the instant case.”

As conveyed to you our members remained distressed throughout the period of the coverage and no relief came through even after a stream of complain looking messages were sent to all and sundry. In view of this as you must have seen in the link  sailex.blogspot.in/2015/03/exchange-of-e-mails-with-sail-nic-and.html   a tele discussion took place between us and the representative of the TPA on 14^th March 2015 on the basis of which blue lettered Record Note of suggestions was posted to E-meditek, the TPA. However, the TPA has not given its assent or dissent or comment on the suggestions made to improve the service.

Since it was the fag end of the duration of the Agreement not much was expected from either the Insurance Co. and the TPA might have taken it for a pep talk.

Now that new term begins with you as the Insurance Co. it would be better to present our suggestions as follows afresh.   

1.    Fix up Hospitals of reasonable and reliable quality in nearby locations for both OPD & IPD. All IPD Hospitals must be permitted to entertain OPD cases, if possible.

2.    Some Hospitals in the list given by the E-meditek refuses to honour the list from day one of its implementation. Number of mid-way withdrawals of service by a Hospital for Cashless Treatment etc is very high almost half of the list for reasons best known to the previous Insurance Co. and the TPA. We suggest that the Insurance Co. and the TPA combine must ensure such mid-way withdrawals only after a month’s notice to the SAIL Mediclaim members.

3.    All service activities of the TPA like

(a) Preparation and delivery of Guidebook and ID cards etc. to the Members/ Spouse

(b)  Decision making in all matters other than medical

(c)    Release of payment to Hospitals / reimbursement of OPD/ IPD Bills etc must follow a time frame of a maximum of two weeks.

4.    Permission for Cashless / IPD Treatment and Settlement of Bills for the same must not exceed Three hours from the time of receiving the message from the concerned Hospital before treatment or to release the patient after Treatment.

5-     For every difference of opinion or interpretation on the terms of service TPA / Insurance Co. should approach SAIL to circulate clarification/ clarified version and made effective from a date sufficiently later than the issue of such notification.

6.   The TPA and its staff must work more efficiently, if possible at least partly, with missionary zeal and give a personal touch to the dealings.

7.    TPA must accept a member/ spouse as genuine if he/ she produces valid payment receipt.

8   e-mail id forsesail@gmail.com can be used for communication with us as and when required.

We would request you to kindly identify and select an efficient and well intentioned TPA for executing the above suggestions. We are open to discussion even in a Skype meeting if and when desired by you. We are also providing a list of Hospitals below in the Annexure to be included for Cashless/ IPD/ OPD treatments in addition to the present list.

With regards,

Yours sincerely,

(V.N.Sharma)

Chairman

Annexure

LIST OF HOSPITALS TO BE INCLUDED AFRESH

1.    Santevita Multispecilality Hospital,

1, HB Road, (Near Firayalal Chowk),Ranchi-834001, Ph:+91 651 301 1111, +91 651 222 5555, Web: http://www.santevitahospital.com/

E-mail: info@santevitahospital.com 

2.    Bhagwan Mahabir Medica Superspeciality Hospital, Ranchi

Ph. 06516606000,+917033093309

Web: http://www.medicahospitals.in/ranchi.html,

e-mail: contactus.ranchi@medicahospitals.in

3.     Orchid Medical Centre, HB Road, Ranchi-834001, Phone:0651 221 9501 http://www.orchidmedcentre.com/  e-mail: info@orchidmedcentre.com

4.   MGM Eye Institute, Raipur

5.   MMI Narayana Multispeciality Hospital,Raipur

6.   Ramakrishna Hospital, Raipur

7.   Chandulal Chandrakar Memorial Hospital,

Nehru Nagar Chowk, GE Road Bhilai, 07882294712, 2292683, 9993095039, info@ccmhbhilai.com

8. Apollo BSR hospital, junvani road, smriti nagar, Bhilai, 07882299999, 9981101111, info@apollobsr.com

9.  "Combined Medical Institute Hospital (CMI), Haridwar Road, Dehradun"

10. Mother Hospital (P) Ltd, P.O. Pllazh, Olari, Thrissur 680012, Kerala State  for  cashless  Treatment .

11. Chennai Meenakshi Multispeciality Hospital, 148, Luz Church Road, Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004 for OPD

12. Asian Instt of Medical Sciences ,Sector 21A.FARIDABAD for OPD also

13. Poyyanil Hospital, Poyyanil Juction,Kozhencherry  P O Pathanamthitta  Dist. KERALA   PIN 689641 for OPD & IPD

14. Narayana Hrudayalaya, Shimoga

15. Nanjappa Hospital,Shimoga. 

16. Hosmat - Hospital Pvt Ltd, 45, Magrath Road, off. Richmond Road, Bangalore - 560025

17. Columbia Asia Hospital, White field, Bangalore.

18. Brahm  Shakti Hospital,U-178 Budh Vihar,Main Kanjhawala Road,New Delhi-110086 for OPD

19. Charnok Hospitals Pvt Ltd

      (ISO-90001;2008 &ISO-14001:2004 Certified.NABL Accredited)

      RGM-2013,Teghoria,Kolkata-700157

      Tel:033-40-500-500.Fax:033-40-500-600

                   E -Mail: info@charnokhospital.com

                   www.charnokhospital.com

20.  UMA Medical Related Institute Pvt Ltd,VIP Road,  Teghoria, Kolkata-700157

       (ISO 9001:2008) Phone:03367017711,25701956-59. Fax:03325705266

        E-Mail:umri2001@gmail.com /uma_medical2001@rediffmail.com

                   www.umamedical.org

21.  SJ Memorial Diabetic & Medical Speciality Centres Pvt Ltd

       VIP Road, Teghoria, Raghunathpur,Kolkata-700059

       Phone:033-25708428/40617171/40617180

       Email: zoomhealthcare@gmail.com 

       www.zoomhealthcare.org

22.  ORANGE CITY HOSPITAL

       VASAN EYE CARE Nagpur

23.  Sunetra Eye hospital, 1050/1, Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, Park Survey   Santoshpur, Kolkata, West Bengal 700075. This is one of the renowned eye hospitals in Kolkata

24.  BM Hospitals (044-22671182) –for OPD & Cashless

       36, 5th Main Road, Thillaiganga Nagar, Chennai - 600061

25.  DR Hariharan Diabetes & Heart Care Hospital (044-22345275)

24 / 26, "SWATHI", 29th Street, Nanganallur, Chennai - 600061

26.  Hindu Mission Hospital (044-22262244) ) –for OPD & Cashless

       103, Grand Southern Trunk Road

       Tambaram West

       Chennai - 600045

27.  Hindu Mission Health Services, (044-22243026) ) –for OPD & Cashless

       100 feet Road,

       Hindu Colony

       Nanganallur - 600061

28.  Life Line Hospital) –for OPD & Cashless

       No. 14/2, 2nd Cross Street,

       Madipakkam,

       Chennai - 600117

29.  S.P Hospital, Address: 16, Karikalan E St, Adambakkam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu  600088

30. Sarathy Nursing Home (044-22456943), 28, 2nd Lane, Vellalar East   Street, Adambakkam, Chennai – 600088

31.  Parvathy Hospital, 241, GST Road, Chrompet. Chennai. 600044.

32.  Prashanth Superspeciality Hospital,

  No.36/37, Velachery Main Road, Velachery,

  Chennai - 600042

33.  SIMHAPURI HOSPITALS,  NH-5, CHINTHAREDDYPALEM  CROSSROAD,

       NELLORE, ANDHRAPRADESH.

info@simhapurihospitals.com

www.simhapurihospitals.com

34  Max Hospital

      Malsi, Mussoorie Diversion Road, Dehradun (Uttarakhand)

      It is a multi-speciality hospital.

35. CMI Hospital

      Haridwar Road, Dehradun - 248001 (Uttarakhand)

      (This is also a multi-speciality hospital.)

36. The Apollo Clinic

      8/4-1, near Kishan Nagar Chowk, Dehradun - 248001 (Uttarakhand)

37. Medica Superspecialty Hospital

      Mukundapur, 127, Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, Kolkata, West Bengal-700099

38. Vision Care Hospital-Mukundapur

  E.M. Bypass, Mukundapur. Landmark: Behind Metro Cash & Carry    Near Medica Hospital, Kolkata

39. Sankara Nethralaya

      147 Mukundapur, EM bypass, Near Purba Jadavpur Thana, Kolkata, West Bengal 700099

40.   Narayna Hrudayalaya Pvt. Ltd.

      Plot No. 3 & 4, Sadaramangala Industrial Area, Whitefield Main Road, Mahadevapura Post, Bangalore 560 048
     Tel: 080 71112555
      WWW.narayanahealth.org

41. Karnataka Institute of Diabetology
     Bannerghatta Road, 9th Block Jaynagar, Bangalore 560 069
     Phone: +91 80 2297 7698/99
     WWW.kidbangalore.in

42.  Max Super Speciality Hospital

       Malsi, Mussoorie Diversion Road

       Dehradun - 248 001

43.  CMI Hospital

       Haridwar Road

       Dehradun - 248 001

44.  CHODANKAR NURSING HOME

H-17, PORVORIM,

BARDEZ, GOA-403521,

PHONE 0832 2417778

45.  Ramkrishna Care Hospital :
       Aurobindo Enclave, Pachpedi Naka, Dhmtari Road, NH-43, RAIPUR – 492001,  
       Ph.No. 0771-2419193/194: e-mail:contact@ramkrishnacarehospitals.com
 46 . MMI Narayana Multispeciality Hospital : Dhamtari Road, Lalpur, Raipur,

        Chhattisgarh    492001.  

        Phone:0771- 42 12761
47. Satya Sai Sanjeevani Hospital : Sector 2, Naya Raipur, Chhattisgarh 492101
       Ph:094242 07140
48. MGM Eye Institute: 5th Mile, Vidhansabha Road, Raipur -493111, Chhattisgarh,
       Phone:0771 - 29 70670

49. Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences

       Address: D-1, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, Delhi 110010

       Phone:011 4630 0000

50. Sahyadri Speciality Hospital Deccan Gymkhana

  Plot no.30 – C, Erandwane, Deccan Gymkhana,

       Pune 411004, Maharashtra, India

       Telephone: 020-6721 3000 (30 lines) / 25403000 / 25403040

       Fax No.: 020-25459315

51. Brahm Shakti Hospital, Pooth Kalan,

     Rohini, New Delhi, Delhi 110086

52.  Ashwini Hospital, Cuttack (Odisha),

53.   Aurobindo Eye Hospital, Raipur

--

Dr.V.N.Sharma, Chairman

2015-04-01 19:41 GMT+05:30 Federation of Retired SAIL Employees <forsesail@gmail.com>:

Dear Sri Kharat,

Your Co. has been selected to implement SAIL Mediclaim Policy for SAIL Retirees. Our experience with the current Indsurance Co. + the TPA was extremely unsatisfactory. Pl. read the contents of our dissatisfaction in the linksailex.blogspot.in/2015/03/exchange-of-e-mails-with-sail-nic-and.html and take decision to appoint a TPA in consultation with us. Hoping to hear from you soon before things are finalised.

--

Dr.V.N.Sharma, Chairman

Federation of Retired SAIL Employees