CGHS or ECHS Claim Returned for Deficiency: Five Moves That Clear It

Reviewed on: 2026-06-12.

A deficiency memo is not a rejection. It means your medical reimbursement claim is parked until you supply what the memo lists. Do these five things, in order:

1. Number every point in the memo on a separate sheet. One memo usually hides three or four distinct demands.
2. Photocopy or scan your entire claim file before anything leaves your hands again.
3. Get the missing third-party documents moving today: write to the hospital for the itemised bill, implant invoice or emergency certificate it owes you.
4. Resubmit with a covering letter that answers the memo point by point, in the memo's own numbering, with labelled annexures.
5. Collect a dated acknowledgement, a received stamp or diary number. Every later escalation, CPGRAMS complaint and RTI stands on this one slip.

Saroj, a 68-year-old CGHS pensioner in Jaipur, had a knee replacement at an empanelled hospital and filed a Medical Reimbursement Claim (MRC) of Rs 2,12,000 at her Wellness Centre. It came back with a memo listing three deficiencies: implant invoice with the manufacturer's sticker not enclosed, copy of the permission letter not enclosed, and the final bill unsigned by the hospital. She wrote to the hospital's billing desk for the signed bill and the implant invoice with sticker, attached her own copy of the permission letter, and resubmitted with a three-point covering letter and five labelled annexures. The clerk could tick each memo point against an annexure. The claim cleared on the second pass. The lesson: a deficiency memo answered loosely comes back again; a memo answered point by point usually does not.

Both are public authorities. That single fact separates this guide from every private insurance fight: here, RTI reaches the file itself.

• Mind the submission window. CGHS norms expect an MRC within six months of discharge. A deficiency return does not erase your original submission date, but do not let the corrected file sit at home for weeks. If you are near or past a deadline for any reason, ask in writing for condonation rather than staying silent.
• Match the memo's numbering. If the memo's point 2 is the unsigned bill, your letter's point 2 says “Signed final bill enclosed as Annexure B”. Reviewers clear files they can tick through.
• Separate the admissible from the disputed. Reimbursement runs at CGHS or ECHS approved rates, not the hospital's sticker price. If one item is contestable, say so in one line and ask that the undisputed amount be processed without waiting.
• Keep originals safe. If originals must go back, hand them over personally against acknowledgement or send them tracked. Your scans are your insurance against a misplaced file.

When a corrected claim goes quiet, stop guessing. CGHS and ECHS offices hold your claim file as a public record, and the CPIO of the office concerned must answer within 30 days. Three questions do most of the work:

1. The current status and present location of medical
   reimbursement claim of [name], beneficiary card no.
   [number], resubmitted on [date] vide acknowledgement
   no. [number].
2. Certified copies of the noting sheet recorded on the said
   claim file from [date of resubmission] till date.
3. The rule, order or instruction relied upon for each
   deficiency raised in the memo dated [date], and the time
   limit prescribed for processing such claims.

File through RTI Online against the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (for CGHS) or the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare (for ECHS), then pick the right CPIO from the dropdown. Our walkthrough on filing RTI online covers the mechanics, and the first appeal route covers a silent CPIO. An RTI reply that shows your file sitting untouched on one desk for two months is the strongest annexure a CPGRAMS complaint can carry.

For movement rather than records, lodge a grievance on CPGRAMS addressed to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare or the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare. State the claim number, the resubmission acknowledgement, and the single relief you want: processing of the claim and release of the admissible amount. CPGRAMS and RTI work best as a pair, one demanding action, the other exposing the file. Avoid filing either as an emotional essay; dates and numbers move files, adjectives do not.

No. A deficiency memo asks you to complete the claim. A rejection is a reasoned order that the claim is not payable. If you receive an actual rejection, demand the full written reasons and escalate; do not just resubmit.

Your original filing date stands, but respond to the memo within any period it states, and quickly even if it states none. If circumstances delayed you, request condonation in writing instead of hoping nobody notices.

Emergencies are assessed differently. The hospital's emergency certificate, with date, time and presenting condition, plus the discharge summary, carries the weight that the permission letter carries for planned treatment. Explain the sequence plainly in your covering letter.

RTI cannot sanction money. What it does is name the desk where your file sleeps and the reasons recorded on it. Files that are being watched through RTI and CPGRAMS together tend to stop sleeping.

Write a dated letter to its billing or medical records department listing exactly what you need, and keep proof. If it still refuses, report the refusal in writing to your Wellness Centre or Polyclinic. Empanelled hospitals answer to the scheme under their empanelment agreement.

CGHS escalates through the city's Additional Director to the Directorate under the health ministry. ECHS escalates through the Regional Centre to Central Organisation ECHS under the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare. Address your CPGRAMS and RTI to the correct parent, or they will spend weeks being transferred.

This guide is part of a four-part claims series; the other three cover private insurance.

• Claim approved but payment delayed
• Claim closed without any communication
• Claim document uploaded but shown missing
• How to claim CGHS reimbursement
• Using RTI for CGHS card and claim matters
• All practical guides

Download the CGHS and ECHS deficiency memo response checklist (PDF).