Education Dept clears pending medical bills of Rs 7 cr

Aurangabad, Oct 4:

The Education Department of Zilla Parishad (ZP) cleared pending medical bills of school teaching and non-teaching staff members of Rs 7 crore.

The medical bills were pending for the past two years because of the Covid outbreak.

It may be noted that teachers and employees of private aided schools get the benefit of medical bills reimbursement scheme on the like of Government employees.

The teachers and employees did not visit the ZP Education Department for around one and half years because of Covid restrictions. Also, there was no financial provision for the reimbursement of medical bills during Covid period.

So, the medical bills of teachers, headmasters and non-teaching staff members were pending with the Education Department from March-April 2020.

After financial restrictions were lifted, the ZP received funds for the bills.

Around 500-600 bills were cleared and Rs 7 crore were reimbursed in two phases.

The medical bills for the last five months are still pending. The Education Department officers said that the pending bills would be cleared upon receiving fund from the Government. Founder of Adarsh Shikshak Samiti Dilip Dhakne said that medical bills should be reimbursed within a month of their submission.

“However, teachers, headmasters and employees have to visit the Education Department frequently for clearing the bills. The compensation of earned leave, arrears and pension bills have been pending in Education Department for the past three years,” he added.

Education officer Jaishree Chavan said that the bills were pending due to the unavailability of the fund. “We have disposed of 700 medical bills in two phases recently. Efforts will be made to clear bills immediately with the availability of the fund,” she added.