How to apply for a CGHS card — complete 2026 guide

About 42 lakh beneficiaries were on CGHS rolls as of February 2026 (MoHFW Lok Sabha reply). About 13 lakh of these are pensioners. Around 18% of all new applications get stuck at the office attestation stage (DDO/PAO delays) — the most common bottleneck — and another 6% get stuck at the physical card despatch stage. Both are fixable with one polite RTI.

The Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) was launched in 1954 by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. It's a contributory scheme that provides comprehensive healthcare — OPD consultation, medicines, diagnostics, and IPD (in-patient hospitalisation including surgery) — to:

• Serving central government employees (and their families) in CGHS-covered cities;
• Pensioners of the central government anywhere in India (lifetime, on a one-time contribution);
• Sitting and former Members of Parliament (free, no contribution);
• Freedom fighters, accredited journalists, judges of the Supreme Court / High Courts, and the Diplomatic Wing of MEA.

The legal anchors are the CGHS Manual 2024 (revised edition), the periodic MoHFW Office Memoranda on contribution rates and ward entitlement, the service rules of the central government (FR 9(21A), CCS Rules), and the larger directive principle under Article 41 of the Constitution which requires the State to make provision for public assistance in cases of sickness.

CGHS is different from the CGHS reimbursement claim (which is what you file *after* you've already paid out of pocket at a non-empanelled hospital — see Claim CGHS reimbursement). The card itself is the gateway; reimbursement is one of the things you can do after you have the card.

It is also different from Ayushman Bharat (PMJAY/ABHA) — which is for non-government, primarily BPL families. If you are a central government employee, you are not eligible for PMJAY but you are entitled to CGHS. The Ayushman Bharat ABHA Health ID (the digital health record) is a separate thing — see Apply Ayushman Bharat ABHA card. You can hold an ABHA Health ID alongside CGHS.

• You must be a serving employee of the central government (Ministry, Department, attached/subordinate office, statutory body funded by central government), OR a central government pensioner drawing pension from a Pay & Accounts Office.
• Your office of posting must be in one of the 80 CGHS-covered cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Jaipur, Lucknow, Patna, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Chandigarh, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhopal, Indore, Kanpur, Nagpur, Vadodara, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, etc. — full list at cghs.gov.in). Officers posted in non-CGHS cities get reimbursement under CS(MA) Rules 1944 instead.
• Pensioners can take a CGHS card from any CGHS city irrespective of where they live, but must mention the city of choice for the wellness centre.

• Spouse — included automatically. If the spouse is also a CGHS-covered employee, only one card is held; the other surrenders.
• Dependent children — sons up to age 25 OR start of earning, whichever is earlier; unmarried daughters of any age (until marriage); divorced/widowed daughters in some circumstances; physically/mentally disabled children for life regardless of age.
• Dependent parents — both parents (or in-laws if the spouse is the breadwinner). The income test: monthly income from all sources must be below ₹9,000 (last revised 2018 — verify if any 2026 revision is notified). Pension counts as income; rental income counts; dearness relief counts.
• Stepchildren, adopted children, dependent siblings in restricted cases (must be specifically certified by the head of office).

The contribution depends on the Pay Level under the 7th Central Pay Commission (will become 8th CPC slabs once notified — verify current rates):

+-----------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| Pay Level (7th CPC)         | Monthly contribution               |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| Level 1 to Level 5          | ₹250                               |
| Level 6                     | ₹450                               |
| Level 7 to Level 11         | ₹650                               |
| Level 12 and above          | ₹1,000                             |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| MPs (sitting + former)      | NIL (free)                         |
| Diplomatic Wing             | As per separate MEA notification   |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------------+

For pensioners, the contribution is a one-time payment for lifetime cover, calculated as 10 years × monthly contribution at the last drawn Pay Level — so anywhere from ₹30,000 (Level 1-5) to ₹1.20 lakh (Level 12 and above). Pensioners with a disability or those above 80 years often get fee waivers — check the latest OM on cghs.gov.in.

• Online — https://cghs.gov.in → “Online Beneficiary Registration” (the most reliable route since 2023; all approvals are tracked digitally).
• Offline at your CGHS Wellness Centre — pick up Form CGHS-A (for serving employees) or Form CGHS-P (for pensioners), submit with documents.
• Office of the Additional Director, CGHS for your city — every CGHS city has one. Delhi has multiple zonal Add. Directors (R.K. Puram, Mayur Vihar, Karol Bagh, etc.) — apply at the one in your jurisdiction.

Before logging in, confirm:

• Your office is in a CGHS-covered city — search cghs.gov.in → “CGHS Cities”.
• Your Pay Level as per your last salary slip — this decides your contribution and your ward entitlement (general ward / semi-private / private — Pay Level 12+ gets private).
• Your DDO's name, designation, and office address — you'll need these for the attestation.

• Go to https://cghs.gov.in.
• Click “Online Beneficiary Registration”.
• Choose category — “Serving Employee” (or “Pensioner” / “MP” / “Freedom Fighter” as applicable).
• Enter your office name + DDO code + Pay Level + city of posting.

The system creates a temporary registration number — note it down.

• Personal: name (as in service record), DOB, designation, mobile, email.
• Spouse: name, DOB, marriage date, Aadhaar.
• Each child: name, DOB, school/college, Aadhaar (if available), photo.
• Each parent (if claiming dependency): name, DOB, address, declared monthly income from all sources (must be below ₹9,000), Aadhaar, photo.

For the serving employee:

• Office order confirming current posting + Pay Level (issued by your Establishment section).
• Aadhaar of self + each family member.
• Recent passport-size photo of self + each family member.
• Marriage certificate for spouse.
• Birth certificates for children.
• Income proof of parents (PPO of pension, bank statement, declaration on stamp paper) if claiming dependency.
• Cancelled cheque (for any future medical advance / reimbursement credit).

• Click “Submit”. The system generates a PDF of the filled form with your temporary registration number.
• Print two copies.
• Hand both to your DDO/Head of Office. The DDO verifies your Pay Level, signs, stamps, and forwards to the Pay & Accounts Officer (PAO) for contribution-deduction sanction (so the ₹250-1,000 starts being deducted from your salary from the next pay cycle).
• The PAO returns the attested form to the Add. Director, CGHS of your city — either by post or by digital upload through the BHARATKOSH/PFMS interface.

• Once the Add. Director, CGHS receives the attested form, a CGHS Beneficiary ID (BID) is generated for you and each family member (separate sub-IDs for each member, with the same primary BID).
• You'll get an SMS/email. You can now immediately use OPD at any Wellness Centre by quoting the BID — even before the physical card arrives. Carry your office ID + a print of the BID confirmation as backup.

• The physical CGHS Smart Card (chip-enabled) is printed at the central card-printing facility and despatched by Speed Post to your registered address.
• Standard delivery: 30-60 days from BID generation. Pensioners may take longer (up to 90 days).
• Each family member gets a separate physical card.
• If undelivered after 60 days, raise a grievance on cghs.gov.in (and read the “If stuck” section below).

• OPD: Walk into your assigned Wellness Centre (the one closest to your home — you can change later). Show the smart card to the receptionist; the doctor will issue a prescription; medicines are dispensed free at the WC pharmacy.
• IPD (planned hospitalisation): Get a referral from your WC Medical Officer to a CGHS-empanelled hospital. Carry the referral + smart card to the hospital — admitted cashless.
• IPD (emergency): Walk into any CGHS-empanelled hospital with the smart card, get admitted; the hospital obtains post-facto referral from CGHS.
• Non-empanelled hospital (emergency only): Pay first, then claim reimbursement — see Claim CGHS reimbursement.

+--------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Application form (online)      | NIL                                  |
+--------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Monthly contribution           | ₹250 / ₹450 / ₹650 / ₹1,000          |
| (deducted from salary)         | (Pay Level 1-5 / 6 / 7-11 / 12+)     |
+--------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Pensioner one-time contribution| 10 × monthly slab = ₹30,000 to       |
| (lifetime card)                | ₹1.20 lakh (waived for some senior + |
|                                | divyangjan categories — verify OM)   |
+--------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| OPD at Wellness Centre         | FREE — consultation + medicines      |
+--------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| OPD reimbursement (non-WC)     | Up to ₹1,500 / month (basic)         |
+--------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| IPD at empanelled hospital     | CASHLESS (subject to ward            |
|                                | entitlement: General / Semi-private /|
|                                | Private)                             |
+--------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| IPD non-empanelled (emergency) | Reimbursed at CGHS-approved rates    |
+--------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Smart card replacement (lost)  | ₹50 per card                         |
+--------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| RTI to PIO CGHS                | ₹10 by IPO. BPL = free.              |
+--------------------------------+--------------------------------------+

• Office attestation delay (DDO / PAO) — the single biggest bottleneck. The DDO is busy and the PAO sometimes loses files between sections. The fix: a polite written reminder citing CGHS OM dated 18.07.2018 which prescribes a 15-day SLA for PAO sanction.
• Aadhaar mismatch — typically a typo in the spouse's name on Aadhaar vs marriage certificate, or DOB difference of a few days for an older parent. Update Aadhaar at a UIDAI Seva Kendra first; then re-upload.
• Parent fails income test — if mother is a pensioner with monthly pension > ₹9,000 (after dearness relief), she is not eligible as dependent. You can declare only one parent (the lower-income one) and absorb the other through a separate insurance.
• Spouse re-marriage — a divorced/widowed daughter who re-marries loses CGHS cover; family must update.
• Dependent child crosses 25 — son's CGHS lapses on the day he turns 25 OR starts earning above the threshold (currently ~₹15,000/month) — whichever is earlier. Daughters: until marriage.
• Empanelment of preferred hospital pending — your favourite hospital may not be on the CGHS panel for your city. The OPD/IPD card still works at all empanelled hospitals — but at a non-empanelled one you'll have to use reimbursement (with all its rate-cap pain).
• Smart card chip damaged / unreadable — apply for replacement at the WC; ₹50 fee; takes 15-30 days.
• Wellness Centre changed without intimation — when you move from one CGHS city to another, you must apply for CGHS card transfer. Until the transfer is approved, the new WC will deny OPD.

• Walk into the WC nearest your home. Ask for the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) in-charge.
• Best for: card not delivered, OPD denied, medicine shortage, doctor unavailability.

• Each CGHS city has an Add. Director CGHS — addresses at cghs.gov.in → “CGHS Cities”.
• Submit a written grievance with your BID and a copy of your registration acknowledgement.
• SLA: response in 21 days.

• Director, CGHS HQ, R. No. 545-A, Nirman Bhavan, Maulana Azad Road, New Delhi - 110011.
• For systemic issues: empanelment delays, contribution rate disputes, ward entitlement clarifications.

• CGHS Grievance — cghs.gov.in → “Citizen Corner” → “Grievance”.
• CPGRAMS — https://pgportal.gov.in → Ministry “Health and Family Welfare” → Sub-org “CGHS”. 30-day SLA, escalates to a Joint Secretary.

• For serving central government employees, CAT has jurisdiction over service-condition disputes including CGHS denial of dependent status, ward entitlement, etc.
• Filing fee ₹50. No advocate required for OAs by the employee.

CGHS is a public authority under §2(h) of the RTI Act 2005 — every Add. Director, CGHS, the Director CGHS HQ, and the CGHS PIO at the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare are PIOs.

RTI helps here when:

• Your smart card was attested by the PAO 60+ days ago and still not delivered — RTI to PIO Add. Director CGHS for the despatch register entry, Speed Post AWB number, and the dealing officer's name.
• Your dependent parent's claim was rejected without a written reason — RTI for the calculation sheet showing the income test and the order of rejection.
• Your IPD reimbursement was reduced (“rate capped”) — RTI for the CGHS rate list applicable to that procedure on that date.
• Your contribution deduction is showing in salary slip but BID is not yet generated — RTI to the PAO + Add. Director CGHS for the file movement note-sheet.

See the dedicated guide: RTI for CGHS card delay — copy-ready template.

RTI does NOT help here when:

• You want CGHS to admit your sister-in-law as a dependent — she is not in the CGHS family definition; RTI cannot rewrite the rules.
• You want a non-empanelled hospital reimbursed at full bill rate — CGHS pays only at its rate list; RTI will give you the rate list, not a higher rate.
• You want a private ward when your Pay Level entitles you to general ward — RTI can confirm the entitlement but not change it. To change ward entitlement you must wait for a Pay Level upgrade.
• You want CGHS to extend cover to your son above 25 (and earning) — extension is allowed only for permanently disabled children; RTI cannot grant it.
• You filed the registration last week and want status — wait at least 30 days. PIOs treat premature RTIs as fishing expeditions.

Q. I'm posted in a non-CGHS city (say, Shimla). Can I still apply?
No — CGHS is geo-restricted to the 80 CGHS cities. In a non-CGHS city you are covered by CS(MA) Rules 1944 for medical reimbursement; rates are similar but cashless empanelment is much smaller.

Q. I'm a contractual employee in a Ministry. Am I eligible?
Generally no — CGHS is for regular central government employees. Some autonomous bodies have separate health schemes (e.g., AIIMS staff). Contractual staff often get a CGHS-style scheme via their consultancy contract — verify with HR.

Q. My wife works in a state government job — she also has state health cover. Can both run together?
Yes, both schemes can run in parallel, but you cannot claim the same expense twice. CGHS-covered family members must declare their other-scheme cover at the time of claim.

Q. Can I add my mother-in-law if I'm the breadwinner?
Yes — if your wife's parents are wholly dependent on you (and her father has no income / passed away), they qualify as your dependents subject to the ₹9,000 income cap on the mother-in-law.

Q. My pensioner father wants a CGHS card. He's 78. Does he have to pay the ₹30,000-1.20L lump sum?
There are partial fee waivers for pensioners above 80 years and for divyangjan pensioners — check the latest OM on cghs.gov.in. Below 80, the full one-time contribution is payable but only once for life.

Q. The Apollo near my house is empanelled but only for cardiac. I need orthopaedic surgery. What now?
CGHS empanelment is specialty-wise. The hospital will deny cashless for orthopaedic. Either pick another empanelled hospital with orthopaedic empanelment OR pay first and seek reimbursement at CGHS rates (rate-capped, so out-of-pocket likely).

Q. Can I use my CGHS smart card while travelling outside my CGHS city — say, on official tour to Mumbai while I'm posted in Delhi?
Yes — for OPD at any CGHS Wellness Centre across India, and for IPD at any empanelled hospital across India. Carry the smart card.

Q. I retired last year — when does my serving-employee CGHS card stop?
On the date of retirement. You must convert to a pensioner CGHS card by paying the lump sum within 30 days of retirement; there's a 30-day “no break” grace if you apply quickly. If you delay beyond 30 days, you must pay arrears and may face a coverage gap.

Q. I lost my CGHS smart card while travelling. What now?
File a written report at your WC; pay ₹50 for replacement; new card in 15-30 days. Meanwhile your BID continues to work — carry the BID printout + Aadhaar.

• Claim CGHS reimbursement — for non-empanelled / emergency expenses
• Apply Ayushman Bharat ABHA Health ID — for digital health records
• RTI for CGHS card delay — copy-ready template
• RTI in 12 simple steps — for first-time filers
• All Indian government helplines — one master directory
• RTI forms + state-wise fee chart

Last reviewed: 26 April 2026 by RTI Wiki editorial team. CGHS contribution slabs and ward entitlements are revised periodically by MoHFW Office Memoranda — verify current rates on cghs.gov.in or write to admin@bighelpers.in if you spot a stale figure.