Summary of this article
· Health Ministry revises CGHS geo-tagging guidelines, relaxing daily geo-tagged photo upload rules
· It announced one-time waiver for old cases and relaxation for IPD and OPD patients
Senior citizen beneficiaries of the Central Government Health Services (CGHS) will benefit from the recent changes in the CGHS claim process rules. Until recently, uploading geo-tagged photos of the CGHS beneficiaries getting admitted to the hospital was mandatory. The daily upload of geo-tagged photographs, along with some other rules, has now been relaxed. It is likely to benefit the CGHS hospitals as well as the patient.
Last year, noticing the increasing number of frauds, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) had made daily uploading of geo-tagged photos of CGHS beneficiaries mandatory. In a circular dated December 19, 2024, the ministry directed the daily photo upload of the patients to minimise fraudulent activities by healthcare organisations and remove the chances of getting fraudulent bills. For the out-patient department (OPD), too, uploading geo-tagged photos on the same day was made mandatory.
Recently, the ministry issued a memorandum dated July 21, 2025, and revised the guidelines for geo-tagged photo uploading of CGHS beneficiaries.
Old Cases: One-Time Waiver
In an effort to give relief to the hospitals and beneficiaries from complying with the rules, the ministry gave a one-time waiver for uploading the geo-tagged photographs. However, this waiver is only for the old cases in which photo uploading will not be required. These cases will include those from “the period commencing from the date on which the earlier order mandating daily uploads was issued up to the date of this O.M.”
New Cases
For new case, the relaxations include:
IPD (In-Patient Department)
• Referral IPD: No geo-tagged photograph required, but referral must be valid. The referral must be uploaded onto the National Health Authority (NHA) portal.
• Non-Referral IPD: These include emergencies or old age patients (70 years and above). For such cases, two geo-tagged photographs of the patients are required at the time of hospitalisation and at the time of discharge. If hospitalisation is for more than seven days, then one additional geo-tagged photo has to be uploaded every seventh day. Photos should be clicked only in the ICU or ward, and the CGHS card need not necessarily be in the photo.
Outpatient Department (OPD)
· Referral OPD: Geo-tagging is not required for valid referrals or endorsements.
· Non-Referral OPD: Geo-tagging of photographs is mandatory for patients aged 70 years or more, bedridden patients, or those who require follow-up consultations.
The ministry has also mandated automatic geo-tagging by the device, such as a mobile phone, tablet, or so on, and uploading of the photo within 24 hours of clicking it. The minimum size of the digital photo should be less than or equal to 1 MB. Healthcare organisations have also been directed to store the photographs for 90 days for the purpose of audit.
In short, the reduced compliance burden is aimed at reducing hassle for both hospitals as well as patients. For OPD, the ministry has made uploading geo-tagged photos on the same day mandatory.
