# Central Government Health Scheme

Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) is a scheme for providing healthcare to the serving as well as the retired Central Government Employees and their family members. CGHS is functioning under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and the officers of the Central Health Service (CHS) provide healthcare to the beneficiaries and handles the administration of the wellness centres located throughout India.
The Central Government Employees not residing in CGHS covered cities are entitled to medical care under Central Services (Medical Attendance) Rules.

## History

Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) was established on 1st July 1954. It was initially introduced in Delhi as the Contributory Health Service Scheme (CHSS) under the administrative control of the Directorate General of Health Services (Dte.GHS). Initially there were 16 Dispensaries catering to 53,000 Government Employees and a total of 2,23,000 beneficiaries. Prior to CGHS, employees had to claim reimbursement of medical expenditure under Central Services (Medical Attendance) Rules. CGHS was introduced with a purpose of providing a more comprehensive healthcare to the Central Government Employees and to make the system more efficient and hassle-free. The scheme was later extended to several other categories of officials, such as members of parliament, supreme court judges, etc.
Over the years, CGHS wellness centres were expanded to cover more and more cities throughout India.

## Organogram

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Directorate of CGHS | Directorate of CGHS | Directorate of CGHS | Directorate of CGHS | Directorate of CGHS | Directorate of CGHS |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | AS&DG, CGHS | AS&DG, CGHS | AS&DG, CGHS | AS&DG, CGHS | AS&DG, CGHS | AS&DG, CGHS |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | JS, CGHS | JS, CGHS | JS, CGHS | JS, CGHS | JS, CGHS | JS, CGHS |
| | | | | | | | | | | Director, CGHS | Director, CGHS | Director, CGHS | Director, CGHS | Director, CGHS | Director, CGHS | | | | | | | Director, EHS | Director, EHS | Director, EHS | Director, EHS | Director, EHS | Director, EHS |
| | | | | | | Additional Director (HQ) | Additional Director (HQ) | Additional Director (HQ) | Additional Director (HQ) | Additional Director (HQ) | Additional Director (HQ) | | | | | | | | | | | Additional DDG (HQ) | Additional DDG (HQ) | Additional DDG (HQ) | Additional DDG (HQ) | Additional DDG (HQ) | Additional DDG (HQ) |
| Additional Directors (4 zones of Delhi) | Additional Directors (4 zones of Delhi) | Additional Directors (4 zones of Delhi) | Additional Directors (4 zones of Delhi) | Additional Directors (4 zones of Delhi) | Additional Directors (4 zones of Delhi) | | | Additional Director MSD | Additional Director MSD | Additional Director MSD | Additional Director MSD | Additional Director MSD | Additional Director MSD | | | Additional Director (Admin) Additional Director (R&H) | Additional Director (Admin) Additional Director (R&H) | Additional Director (Admin) Additional Director (R&H) | Additional Director (Admin) Additional Director (R&H) | Additional Director (Admin) Additional Director (R&H) | Additional Director (Admin) Additional Director (R&H) | Additional Directors (outside Delhi) | Additional Directors (outside Delhi) | Additional Directors (outside Delhi) | Additional Directors (outside Delhi) | Additional Directors (outside Delhi) | Additional Directors (outside Delhi) |
| Chief Medical Officers (Wellness Centres) | Chief Medical Officers (Wellness Centres) | Chief Medical Officers (Wellness Centres) | Chief Medical Officers (Wellness Centres) | Chief Medical Officers (Wellness Centres) | Chief Medical Officers (Wellness Centres) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Chief Medical Officers (Wellness Centres) | Chief Medical Officers (Wellness Centres) | Chief Medical Officers (Wellness Centres) | Chief Medical Officers (Wellness Centres) | Chief Medical Officers (Wellness Centres) | Chief Medical Officers (Wellness Centres) | | | | | | |

## Beneficiaries

Central Government Employees, serving as well as retired, and their family members are eligible for CGHS benefits. The serving employees should be residing in a CGHS covered city to be eligible to subscribe to CGHS scheme. For pensioners, this is not necessary. At the time of retirement, the pensioner can choose to avail either CGHS benefits or the Fixed Medical Allowance (FMA).
CGHS also have several other categories of beneficiaries, which were added over the years, such as Members of Parliament, Judges of Supreme Court and High Courts, employees of certain autonomous organisations covered under the scheme, Railway Board employees, etc.

## Subscription

A subscription amount is deducted from the Pay of the Central Government Employee every month for coverage under CGHS scheme. For Pensioners, either monthly payment or a one-time lifetime payment of subscription can be chosen at the time of retirement.
Monthly Contribution for availing CGHS facility :
| Sl. No. | Corresponding Levels in the Pay Matrix as per 7th CPC | Contribution (₹/ Month) |
| 1 | Level 1 - 5 | 250 |
| 2 | Level 6 | 450 |
| 3 | Level 7 - 11 | 650 |
| 4 | Level 12 and above | 1000 |

## CGHS Covered Cities

Currently CGHS wellness centres are functioning in 80 cities all over India.
List of CGHS covered cities :
| Sl. No. | State / Union Territory | Additional Director Office | CGHS City |
| 1 | Gujarat | Ahmedabad | Ahmedabad |
| 2 | Gujarat | Ahmedabad | Vadodara |
| 3 | Gujarat | Ahmedabad | Gandhinagar |
| 4 | Karnataka | Bangalore | Bengaluru |
| 5 | Karnataka | Bangalore | Mysuru |
| 6 | Madhya Pradesh | Bhopal | Bhopal |
| 7 | Madhya Pradesh | Bhopal | Indore |
| 8 | Madhya Pradesh | Jabalpur | Jabalpur |
| 9 | Odisha | Bhubaneswar | Bhubaneswar |
| 10 | Odisha | Bhubaneswar | Berhampur |
| 11 | Odisha | Bhubaneswar | Cuttack |
| 12 | Chandigarh (UT) | Chandigarh | Chandigarh |
| 13 | Jammu & Kashmir (UT) | Chandigarh | Jammu |
| 14 | Jammu & Kashmir (UT) | Chandigarh | Srinagar |
| 15 | Himachal Pradesh | Chandigarh | Shimla |
| 16 | Haryana | Chandigarh | Ambala |
| 17 | Haryana | Chandigarh | Panchkula |
| 18 | Haryana | Chandigarh | Sonipat |
| 19 | Punjab | Chandigarh | Amritsar |
| 20 | Punjab | Chandigarh | Jalandhar |
| 21 | Tamil Nadu | Chennai | Chennai |
| 22 | Tamil Nadu | Chennai | Coimbatore |
| 23 | Tamil Nadu | Chennai | Tiruchirapalli |
| 24 | Tamil Nadu | Chennai | Tirunelveli |
| 25 | Puducherry (UT) | Chennai | Puducherry |
| 26 | Uttarakhand | Dehradun | Dehradun |
| 27 | Delhi-NCR | Delhi-NCR | Delhi-NCR (Delhi, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Greater Noida, Noida, Gurgaon, Indirapuram, Sahibabad) |
| 28 | Assam | Guwahati | Guwahati |
| 29 | Assam | Guwahati | Dibrugarh |
| 30 | Assam | Guwahati | Silchar |
| 31 | Sikkim | Guwahati | Gangtok |
| 32 | Mizoram | Guwahati | Aizwal |
| 33 | Nagaland | Guwahati | Kohima |
| 34 | Meghalaya | Shillong | Shillong |
| 35 | Tripura | Shillong | Agartala |
| 36 | Manipur | Shillong | Imphal |
| 37 | Telangana | Hyderabad | Hyderabad |
| 38 | Andhra Pradesh | Hyderabad | Guntur |
| 39 | Andhra Pradesh | Hyderabad | Nellore |
| 40 | Andhra Pradesh | Hyderabad | Rajahmundry |
| 41 | Andhra Pradesh | Hyderabad | Vijayawada |
| 42 | Andhra Pradesh | Hyderabad | Visakhapatnam |
| 43 | Rajasthan | Jaipur | Jaipur |
| 44 | Rajasthan | Jaipur | Jodhpur |
| 45 | Rajasthan | Jaipur | Ajmer |
| 46 | Rajasthan | Jaipur | Kota |
| 47 | West Bengal | Kolkata | Kolkata (including Ishapore) |
| 48 | West Bengal | Kolkata | Siliguri (including Jalpaiguri) |
| 49 | Uttar Pradesh | Allahabad (Prayagraj) | Prayagraj |
| 50 | Uttar Pradesh | Allahabad (Prayagraj) | Varanasi |
| 51 | Uttar Pradesh | Kanpur | Kanpur |
| 52 | Uttar Pradesh | Kanpur | Gwalior |
| 53 | Uttar Pradesh | Lucknow | Lucknow |
| 54 | Uttar Pradesh | Lucknow | Agra |
| 55 | Uttar Pradesh | Lucknow | Bareily |
| 56 | Uttar Pradesh | Lucknow | Gorakhpur |
| 57 | Uttar Pradesh | Meerut | Meerut |
| 58 | Uttar Pradesh | Meerut | Saharanpur |
| 59 | Uttar Pradesh | Meerut | Moradabad |
| 60 | Uttar Pradesh | Meerut | Aligarh |
| 61 | Uttar Pradesh | Meerut | Baghpat |
| 62 | Goa | Mumbai | Panaji |
| 63 | Maharashtra | Mumbai | Mumbai |
| 64 | Maharashtra | Mumbai | Nashik |
| 65 | Maharashtra | Pune | Pune |
| 66 | Maharashtra | Pune | Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar (Aurangabad) |
| 67 | Maharashtra | Nagpur | Nagpur |
| 68 | Maharashtra | Nagpur | Chandrapur |
| 69 | Chhattisgarh | Nagpur | Raipur |
| 70 | Bihar | Patna | Patna |
| 71 | Bihar | Patna | Darbhanga |
| 72 | Bihar | Patna | Gaya |
| 73 | Bihar | Patna | Chhapra |
| 74 | Bihar | Patna | Muzaffarpur |
| 75 | Jharkhand | Ranchi | Ranchi |
| 76 | Jharkhand | Ranchi | Dhanbad |
| 77 | Kerala | Thiruvananthapuram | Trivandrum |
| 78 | Kerala | Thiruvananthapuram | Kozhikode |
| 79 | Kerala | Thiruvananthapuram | Kochi |
| 80 | Kerala | Thiruvananthapuram | Kannur |

## Functioning of the Wellness Centres

The Wellness Centres are headed by Chief Medical Officer (CMO) in-charge and functions from Monday to Saturday 7:30AM to 2PM. The staff pattern is as per Staff Inspection Unit (SIU) norms based on workload, and a Medical Officer is expected to attend to 75 patients in 6 hours.

## Services and Benefits

Through the wellness centres located at several cities across India, the beneficiaries can avail medical consultations and are provided medicines free of cost. Those beneficiaries requiring expert evaluation are referred to hospitals known as Healthcare Organizations (HCOs) empaneled under CGHS. In addition to Modern Medicine, the beneficiaries can also avail healthcare under Indian Systems of Medicine, such as Ayurveda, Unani, Sidha, Yoga and also Homeopathy.
Serving employees of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Pensioners, Members of Parliament, etc., are eligible for cashless treatment at the empaneled hospitals.