Chandigarh, Aug. 24 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court has asserted that the government can't deny reimbursement for medical treatment from a non-empanelled hospital given the employee is able to establish essentiality and emergency involved in a particular case.

".the state bears an obligation to ensure the availability of timely medical care to those in need. As such, it cannot expect the citizens to refrain from availing timely care, merely for the reason of non-empanellment of the hospital. Such conduct on the part of the state does not satisfy the criteria of fairness and reasonableness and therefore, amounts to a violation of the fundamental rights enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of India," the bench of justice HS Bra...