The Cabinet has today extended
the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) to the above categories of
non-pensioners of the military.
Non-pensioner ‘ex-servicemen’
were initially granted medical facilities in Military Hospitals in 1970 but the
same were discretionary. Later, ‘pension’ was made mandatory to avail such
facilities. Again in 1997, the term ‘ex-pensioners’ was replaced by ‘ex-servicemen’
thereby restoring the facilities to non-pensioners having ‘ex-servicemen’
status such as Short Service Commissioned Officers and Emergency Commissioned
Officers (SSCOs and ECOs) who were made entitled to Outpatient (OPD) facilities. However, in the late 2000s, the facilities were
withdrawn by the office of the Director General Armed Forces Medical Services
(DGAFMS) despite stiff resistance by the Army HQ.
The matter went into
litigation wherein the Chandigarh Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) ultimately
directed the Government to restore the facilities to the affected ex-servicemen.
The Government though filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the verdict of
the AFT.
The matter was referred to a
Committee of Experts, of which I too was a Member, which, after deliberating
the subject, recommended the following:
(a)
Existing limited outpatient medical facilities in MHs to non-pensioners holding
the status of Ex-servicemen to continue as per already approved instructions
and Services HQ to continue issuing and honouring Medical Entitlement Cards for
such facilities as was the case till late 2000s. The entitled non-pensioners
also continue to be eligible for medical reimbursement from Kendriya Sainik
Board. It may be pointed out here that the said facilities are anyway not
entitled to be granted to re-employed ex-servicemen or those who are members of
any medical scheme.
(b)
The unethical appeal filed against grant of such facilities to own personnel to
which actually they were legally entitled to, be immediately withdrawn and such
ego-fuelled actions be avoided in the future. We wish such persistence and
exertion in pursuing such misdirected litigation is rather used for
constructive activities.
(c)
ECHS facilities for SSCOs as mentioned, as already approved in-principle by the
then Raksha Mantri and mentioned in the Parliament on the floor of the House,
be implemented forthwith by overcoming all objections. The same be made
applicable to all SSCOs and ECOs and all other personnel released without the
benefit of pension but on completion of terms with a gratuity, present and
former, with certain amendments as deemed appropriate such as that the scheme
can only be extended to the officer and spouse alone and that it would not
apply to those who are re-employed with a cover of an organizational medical
scheme. The issue of financial implication may not be relevant since firstly
the scheme is contributory in nature, and secondly, the then Raksha Mantri has
already made a statement to the effect on the floor of the house. Besides
bringing succour to our veterans, it would act as a major morale booster to the
rank and file and also help attract talent to the Short Service Commission
Scheme.
(d)
It is recommended that the Government must go all out to bolster the resources
of the military medical establishment since they are rendering impeccable services
in trying circumstances to our men and women in uniform. There should never be
an occasion wherein doctors perform duties under pressure. An environment free
of all encumbrances, external constraints and stress must be ensured for the
medical establishment to function in an efficient manner
The recommendations were
accepted by the then Raksha Mantri Mr
Manohar Parrikar but were not given effect to for a long period. The Supreme
Court had taken a grim view of the delay and had asked the Government to
resolve the matter by April 2019.
The Cabinet has today
approved the extension of ECHS to various categories of non-pensioners of the
military and it is understood that on the appreciable insistence of the current
Raksha Mantri Ms Nirmala Sitharaman,
even other categories such as pre-mature retirees, which were not covered in
the recommendations of the Committee of Experts or by judicial dicta, have also
been brought in the ambit of the scheme.
Broadly speaking, eligible beneficiaries and their spouses would be entitled to absolutely free Outpatient (OPD) facilities at ECHS polyclinics, however treatment and In-patient (IPD) facilities at ECHS empanelled hospitals would be on payment basis. Further, 50% of such expenditure would be reimbursable for personnel with 10 years service or less and 75% would be reimbursable for those with more than 10 years of service.
Broadly speaking, eligible beneficiaries and their spouses would be entitled to absolutely free Outpatient (OPD) facilities at ECHS polyclinics, however treatment and In-patient (IPD) facilities at ECHS empanelled hospitals would be on payment basis. Further, 50% of such expenditure would be reimbursable for personnel with 10 years service or less and 75% would be reimbursable for those with more than 10 years of service.
This marks a closure to long
drawn travails of affected officers and personnel. My congratulations to them.
Thanks
Navdeep
