Police department grappling with a clause which prevents policemen from claiming reimbursement for diseases such as leptospirosis, malaria.
MUMBAI: It is a medical mystery that the Mumbai police will have to solve themselves.
Officially, they are not supposed to contract HIV, along with leptospirosis, malaria, hepatitis and diabetes because they are not recognised by the state government as ailments for which the police can claim treatment reimbursement.
But the National AIDS Control Society (NACO) and Central Government norms specify that HIV treatment cost has to be borne by the state governments for its employees which entitle police personnel to claim reimbursement .
The result: instead of their own department, they have to get the reimbursement from the Mantralaya, the finance department.
Though HIV positives in the force have some hope, patients of leptospirosis or malaria are not so lucky, as they are just not entitled to get any treatment facility or reimbursements. The latest circular, dated March 19 in this regard lists 32 diseases which the police can claim reimbursements, does not include common diseases like malaria, hepatitis or leptospirosis, but includes terminal illness like leukemia.
“This is quite ridiculous but that it the way it is. Though we supply anti-retroviral medicines to HIV positive police personnel free of cost, if one wants to source it from outside or all the costs of various tests and pathological processes, they have to apply to the finance department for reimbursement,” said police surgeon SM Patil.
The fallacy came to surface when a police officer contracted leptospirosis during 26/7 floods.
“This case reached a critical stage and he was transferred to Lilavati hospital as he needed artificial respiration, and was on ventilator for over two months. The huge cost could not be reimbursed to the person and the commissioner had to make arrangement to release special funds at his discretion to save the officer,” said a senior official.
It was a gesture of the commissioner, but it was not possible to do the same again, officers claimed.
“It requires to be rectified urgently,” Patil said.
The police commissioner has scheduled a meeting with the minister to include these diseases on the list or issue a new order which will give a blanket order to cover treatment costs of any disease.
“There should not be any discrimination between any disease and all has to be treated equally,” he added.
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