PETALING JAYA: Parents of serving civil servants will, for the first
time, be entitled to free ward admissions at government hospitals.
Ward
charges will also be waived for government retirees, civil servants and
qualified immediate family members.
Public Service Department
(PSD) director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam said the directive would take
effect from April 1, and that some 450,000 government retirees would
benefit from the new perk.
“The Government has decided to abolish
ward charges imposed on officers and retirees of the civil service,
their family members and parents when seeking treatment at government
hospitals,” he said in his latest circular.
However, Ismail said
the abolition of ward charges would not affect the current ward
qualification, which was based on grade levels or the last grade held.
He said those who wanted to be admitted to a higher-class ward than
their entitlement would have to pay the public rate and deposit for that
particular ward.
Current rules state that officers and those who
had retired from public service, their parents and family members were
required to pay ward fees according to the fixed rate.
Cuepacs
president Omar Osman thanked the Government for waiving the ward
charges.
“It is comforting to those still in service to know that
they will be taken care of by the Government after retirement,” he said
yesterday.
Omar also welcomed the move to include parents among
the free ward beneficiaries, but said it should include parents of
retirees as well.
Source
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