VARANASI, July 2 -- Banaras Hindu University (BHU) on Wednesday signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with 18 private hospitals in Varanasi to provide treatment at Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) rates to its employees, pensioners and their dependants. The agreements were signed by registrar Rajan Srivastava and representatives of the hospitals in the presence of vice-chancellor prof Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi at the Central Registry. The move follows the university's notification issued last week and fulfils a long-pending demand from employees for access to CGHS-rate treatment at empanelled private hospitals. Prof Chaturvedi said the university would continue to strengthen the scheme to ensure hassle-free healthcare services for employees. He said the system should remain sustainable and credible and assured that mechanisms would be introduced to address issues during its implementation. He also suggested creating a dedicated email address to resolve implementation-related problems. Prof Rakesh Raman, chairman of the CGHS implementation committee, said the computer centre was developing a digital verification system that would allow hospitals to instantly verify the status of BHU employees and their dependants. Prof SN Sankhwar, director of the Institute of Medical Sciences, prof KKGupta, medical superintendent of Sir Sunderlal Hospital, prof Sanjay Gupta, dean of the faculty of medicine, Dr Niti Singh, chief medical officer of the employee health centre, finance officer Manoj Pandey, joint registrar (finance) Dr Sanjay Kumar and assistant registrar (GAD) Ashok Sharma were present at the signing ceremony. The university has also shortlisted 40 CGHS-empanelled private hospitals from Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata and other state capitals based on infrastructure, NABL accreditation and other criteria. The MoUs will initially remain valid for three years, while the empanelment process will continue to expand the healthcare network. The list of empanelled hospitals will be available on the university website. Under the earlier system, employees and pensioners had to pay any amount exceeding CGHS reimbursement rates for treatment at private hospitals. Under the new arrangement, treatment at empanelled hospitals will be available at CGHS rates, removing the additional financial burden on employees, pensioners and their families....