In case emergency, an ECHS beneficiary can be directly admitted to a empanelled hospital of his/her choice and undergo the appropriate medical treatment on cashless basis. Within 48 hours of such admission, nearest ECHS Polyclinic has to be informed so that “Emergency Referral” can be issued to the treating hospital.

Normally, it is seen that empanelled hospital asks the attendants/family members/relatives to fetch the “Emergency Referral” from the ECHS authorities so that the treatment should not be disrupted. The family members out of sentiments immediately rush to the ECHS polyclinic for want of referral. Upto this there is no problem. But in many cases it is seen that most of veterans alone (with spouse only) as their children are away due to their careers. The trauma starts, when the 75 years old spouse is being asked to bring the Referral from the ECHS Polyclinic which is normally at a distance from 5 to 50 kms. And after reaching there one is being asked to register the name for OPD and queue up with general OPD patients which are around 100 registered with any of the Medical Officer. It takes around 3 to 4 hours to fetch said “Emergency Referral Form”. At few ECHS Polyclinics, OIC Sahab, signs the all the forms at 1400 hrs only and the old ladies are standing there and thinking about delay in treatment of their husbands or vice-versa.

So, the whole idea of this narration is that the ECHS beneficiary or his family members/relatives have no business to obtain this Emergency Referral Form. This is the duty of empanelled hospital to send an “Emergency Information Report” online to the concerned/nearest ECHS Polyclinic and in-turn the OIC, Polyclinic will send the “Emergency Referral Form” Online only.

Authority: http://echs.gov.in/chart/7.html

At many empanelled hospitals and Polyclinic are asking to run from pillar to post to make this arrangement.

The whole idea is we should not accept deficiency in services which are laid down.

If you experience such problems do not hesitate to raise your complaints to concerned authorities.

C. Northcote Parkinson’s Law of Delay: Delay is deadliest form of denial

ECHS:-

1. Kindly make use of facility, if you find any …..Rude behaviour by any Polyclinic or Regional Centre staff, Not getting required medicines, Polyclinics / RC not adhering to policies etc.,…

2. Kindly make use of technology to record events (ie., video recordings through ur mobile phones), if any errant ECHS authority / Emp Hosp misbehaves with you….

3. All medicine procurement and distribution is with the Station HQs, still if any veteran is not able to get medicines, kindly raise the level to RC, Director and Central Org, Medical Director, Dy MD and MD…

ECHS launches ‘Complaint and Litigation Reduction Scheme (CLRS)’:-

All stake holders including Veterans and their dependents, ECHS employees at all echelons and hospitals / other service providers are invited for direct communication with Central Organisation ECHS to reduce complaints and litigation.

This will assist them in increased focus on formulation of caring policy and implementating initiatives preserving the time and resources of our veterans who have served the nation in a selfless manner.

Please speak to officer handling non medical complaints on :9968263812.

while issues related to medical aspects be discussed on 9910244611.

In case of non resolution,

please approach

MD ECHS

Central Org ECHS

AG’s Branch

IHQ of MoD (Army)

Maude Lines

Delhi Cantt-10

Tele No – 011 25684846

Email:

mdechs-mod@nic.in

Is Medical Care Scheme (ECHS) For Military Veterans & Families on Death Bed? By Col Ashok K Singh; Veteran

June 16, 2019

Col Ashok Kumar Singh; Veteran

8 Comments

A news of medical care scheme of ex-servicemen, called Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme, being merged with ‘ Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana’ by the central govt, is a hot topic of discussion among military community.

ECHS is a contributory health scheme, wherein soldiers while on their retirement, contribute one time premium as per their rank, to get medical health cover as entitled. The scheme, when introduced itself came under criticism, as when soldiers were recruited into service, they and their families were promised life time free military medical support services. Whereas now under the scheme soldiers have to pay one time premium to get the support. It itself amounts to govt breaking promise and contract.

Before the issues is discussed further, let us first understand what is medical care concept for military soldiers as followed worldwide as per best practices?

The concept is very simple and can be summarized as under:

If military needs best physical fitness in peace and war then soldiers also need best medical support system. So best managed military hospitals is a necessity and shall not be cause of envy to many in civil. You have no choice baby? You can not simply dismantle military hospitals or overburden these to collapse as govts have done to public health system (Recently some attempts were made to open already overburdened military hospitals to civilian patients).
Soldiers after retirement shall get same medical care as in service, as due to nature of job, their health suffers extra wear and tear. Though soldiers may retire without any visible disabilities but it is a fact that almost 99% of them have some problem or other attributed to military service. You can not simply dump them as use and throw commodity. In armies like Australia, where govts provide best medical facilities to every citizen, every soldier on retirement is examined for even minutest medical problem and is assured 100% free life time medical support for same. Though the soldier is not declared disabled (If same is not done then why shall a solider take risk to buy injuries while in service. He will play safe)
Military families are provided same medical support as they also face similar living hardships and mental trauma as soldiers. Let us not forget, family is the strongest support to a soldier and they deserve same care as soldiers.

With above concept in mind, world over medical care systems for military community have been designed. In most advanced countries where best possible contributory health care system is provided, soldiers are provided free non contributory medical cover for life. Their families are equally compensated accordingly.

Now the unconfirmed news of govt proposal to merge ECHS with Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana(PMJAY) is causing anxious debates among military community.

What is actually a Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana(PMJAY)? The Yojna has been launched as a contributory health scheme for 10 crores most poor people of India. The scheme itself is yet to settle. No social impact audit reports are available to prove its efficacy. It is too early to call it a success. The scheme has been designed copying US model, wherein in a capitalist order, social welfare schemes of govts are linked with commercial model of business at some stage. In US itself, President Obama tried a change in capitalist model by bringing people friendly scheme called Obama Care. It faced huge opposition from capitalist lobby.

Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana(PMJAY) has two components. One at basic or primary health care levels wherein wellness centers will provide basic medical care to population at door steps. Such centers providing world class best possible medical services are yet to be established (except in Delhi where Mohalla Clinics are being created). Second at secondary or advanced levels of treatment where under commercial business model, empaneled private hospitals provide medical care to a given financial limit at fixed rates.

It seems that now to cut operation cost of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana(PMJAY) and to make it more commercially viable, govt proposes to use infrastructure of state hospitals, ECHS and CHGS centers to create primary wellness centers for all. That means in existing ECHS, patients of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana(PMJAY) will also get basic treatments. It is not a hidden fact that existing ECHS in any case are overburdened and have no funds to provide even basic medicines. Now further overburdening ECHS without bringing any quality change makes no sense. It also means that ECHS expansion plan will be shelved and military families will be asked to report to wellness centers in existing govt hospitals which in case are in unhygienic state.

Though blue print of new proposal is yet to be shared in public domain but importance of military health care can not be ignored. The best practices as applicable to military health care as followed in capitalists economies like USA needs to be considered. Before putting incomplete ECHS project on death bed, there is surely need to deliberate upon the new proposed scheme and implement it in progressive manner. The right approach shall be to first merge scheme with state health care system. Once it has stabilized and social impact audit reports are satisfactory then extend it to every citizen including politicians, IAS and judges without discrimination. While doing so, compensate military families as is done in most democracies.

A fear looms large that under pressure from capitalist lobby, govt may implement such scheme without due process of consultation, discussions and pilot test trials. It makes no sense to convert not so good but satisfactory health care schemes of soldiers like ECHS in disastrous and unhygienic health care system like state hospitals. Hope good sense prevails. Issue demands professional approach, patience, deliberation, social impact audits and due consideration of ethics and best practices. Any hurry under pressure will be disastrous.

The govts can not change national health care system with socialist commitment under capitalist pressure without bringing quality change. The USA itself is now turning to mixing socialist care with capitalist order. Obama Care is one example. US educated IAS officers, simply copying a capitalist model without adding a socialist flavor under pressure from lobby, is bound to fail in a welfare state like India and for god’s sake don’t experiment with military health care system which may have disastrous consequences. Let us not forget quality of military health care system for veterans has profound impact on serving soldiers too. If you don’t take care of soldiers health after retirement, then why shall soldiers take risk to buy physical injuries while in service? Just give a thought?

Comments and articles are invited to trigger a debate on issue which has serious impact in national security. Comments can be given below in this post itself. For submitting an article click http://faujireporter.com/blogs/submit-post/ or register with faujireporter at http://faujireporter.com/blogs/register/ , create profile and publish. After due consultation a submission of petition to govt is planned using petition software of faujireporter.

The writer is Chief Editor of Fauji Reporter. His profile can be seen on this website. He can be contacted at contact@faujireporter.com