Chief Minister's Free Diagnostic Services (Assam)

What is Chief Minister's Free Diagnostic Services in Assam?

Chief Minister's Free Diagnostic Services is a programme of the Health & Family Welfare Department, Government of Assam, implemented through National Health Mission Assam. National Health Mission Assam lists it among its core citizen services, alongside the Free Drugs Service, and it provides diagnostic investigations at government health institutions without charging the patient.

The services provided free under the programme are CT scans, X-rays and laboratory tests. National Health Mission Assam runs the imaging and laboratory components through partner dashboards. A CT scan management dashboard at spandannhm.medsynaptic.com, an X-ray and teleradiology dashboard at tele.krsnaapacs.com, and a laboratory reports dashboard operated with its diagnostics partner for Assam. These dashboards exist because the programme is delivered as a managed service across many facilities rather than by each hospital buying its own machines.

Two things make this programme different from most schemes on this site. First, there is no application. No form, no portal registration, no sanction order. Second, there is no eligibility test based on income, caste or BPL status. The entitlement attaches to the government health facility: if a doctor there prescribes a covered investigation, the patient gets it free.

That design is deliberate. Diagnostics are the point at which poor patients most often drop out of treatment, a person will accept a free consultation and free medicines, then quietly abandon care when told that a CT scan will cost several thousand rupees at a private centre. Making the test free at the same counter where the prescription was written is what keeps the episode of care intact.

Who is eligible for free diagnostic services in Assam?

You can use the service if:

• You are a patient at a government health facility in Assam, a sub-centre, primary health centre, community health centre, sub-divisional hospital, district hospital or medical college hospital, depending on where the test is available.
• A doctor at that facility has prescribed the investigation on the facility's own requisition slip.
• The test you need is among the covered investigations; CT scan, X-ray or a laboratory test on the facility's free list.
• You have completed OPD or IPD registration at the facility so the test can be linked to your record.

There is no age bar, no income ceiling, no residence certificate and no BPL card requirement published for the service.

You cannot use it, or are not eligible, if:

• You go directly to a private diagnostic centre and pay, then ask for reimbursement. The programme is a free service at the point of care, not a reimbursement scheme, and there is no published claim route for money already spent privately.
• You have no prescription from a government facility doctor. A private doctor's prescription carried into a government hospital's diagnostic counter is not the intended route.
• The test you want is outside the covered list at that facility, in which case you are either referred upward or told the test is chargeable.
• You are seeking a fitness, insurance or employment certificate test rather than an investigation for treatment.

What documents are required?

How to apply for free diagnostic services in Assam

1. Go to the nearest government health facility, a PHC, CHC, sub-divisional hospital, district hospital or medical college hospital; during OPD hours.
2. Register at the OPD counter and collect the registration slip. Carry a photo ID if you have one, though an emergency investigation should not be held up for want of it.
3. See the doctor and ask specifically whether the investigation can be done under the free diagnostic service. The doctor writes the test on the facility's requisition slip.
4. Take the requisition to the radiology counter for a CT scan or X-ray, or to the sample collection counter for laboratory tests, and follow the appointment or queue instruction given there.
5. Collect the report from the same counter on the date told to you, and take it back to the treating doctor. Do not stop at collecting the report. The report is only useful once the doctor has read it.
6. If your facility does not have the machine, ask for a written referral to the district hospital or medical college. The referral carries the free entitlement with you.
7. If a counter asks you to pay for a covered test, ask for it in writing, then raise it with the hospital superintendent or on the 104 Sarathi health helpline.

How much does the service cost the patient?

Nothing. Chief Minister's Free Diagnostic Services is a free-at-point-of-use service, not a cash benefit, so there is no bank account to seed, no direct benefit transfer and no sanctioned amount per patient. No per-patient ceiling is published, which is consistent with the design: the limit is clinical need as judged by the treating doctor, not a rupee cap.

For a patient, the practical value is easiest to see against private rates. A plain X-ray, a routine biochemistry panel and a CT scan bought privately in Assam typically run from a few hundred rupees to several thousand rupees for the CT. Under this programme all three are done at the government facility without the patient paying at the counter.

How does the CT scan and teleradiology part work?

National Health Mission Assam runs the imaging component as a managed service rather than leaving each hospital on its own:

• CT scan services are tracked through a management dashboard at spandannhm.medsynaptic.com, which is how the Mission monitors machine uptime and case volumes across facilities.
• X-ray and teleradiology run through tele.krsnaapacs.com, the Assam dashboard of the radiology partner. Teleradiology means the image can be taken at a district facility and reported by a radiologist elsewhere, which is the only workable answer in a state where specialist radiologists are concentrated in a few cities.
• Laboratory reports are made available digitally through the diagnostics partner's Assam dashboard so that the treating doctor can retrieve them.

These dashboards are administrative tools for the health system rather than citizen login portals. A patient does not need an account on any of them — ask the facility for your report rather than trying to log in.

How does this differ from Assam's health insurance schemes?

Assam runs several health benefits that people often confuse with one another:

• Chief Minister's Free Diagnostic Services: free tests at a government facility, no enrolment, no income test, no cash.
• Atal Amrit Abhiyan, an Assam health insurance scheme providing cashless treatment cover of Rs 2 lakh a year for a long list of critical illnesses, which does require enrolment.
• Assam Arogya Nidhi: financial assistance towards the treatment cost of serious illness, applied for with an estimate and supporting documents.
• Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY, the central health insurance cover, separate from both state schemes.

A single patient may use all of them in sequence: a free CT scan under the diagnostic programme identifies the problem, an insurance scheme pays for the surgery, and Assam Arogya Nidhi covers a gap the insurance does not.

Why patients get turned away, and what to do

• Test not available at that facility. A sub-centre or PHC will not have a CT scanner. Ask for a written referral upward rather than going private.
• Machine down for maintenance. Ask when it will be running and whether the facility can refer you to the nearest working unit.
• Prescription written on a plain paper rather than the facility's requisition slip. Go back to the doctor and get it on the correct slip.
• Reporting delay where teleradiology is used, particularly for CT. Ask for the expected turnaround in days and note the requisition number.
• Counter asks for payment for a covered test. Raise it with the hospital superintendent, and use the 104 helpline if it is not resolved on the spot.
• Test sought without treatment, for example for an insurance or employment certificate. This is outside the purpose of the programme.

Where do I complain about a diagnostic service in Assam?

• Sarathi 104, the National Health Mission Assam health helpline for service queries and complaints.
• 108 Mrityunjoy. The emergency ambulance service, for emergencies rather than complaints.
• Hospital superintendent or the facility in-charge, the first authority for a counter that refuses a covered test or demands money.
• Joint Director of Health Services at the district level, the next step above the facility.
• National Health Mission Assam at nhm.assam.gov.in, which carries the programme listing and contact routes.

No test covered under Chief Minister's Free Diagnostic Services should cost a patient anything at a government facility, and no one is authorised to charge a "file charge", "report charge" or agent fee for arranging one.