Government Approves Massive Expansion of Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme

           

   To provide equitable treatment  to all eligible Ex-Servicemen and their dependents under the Ex-Servicemen  Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) and to enhance the scheme’s coverage, the  Union Cabinet today approved Establishment of 199 new polyclinics including  17 mobile medical facilities and 15 new regional centres at a cost of Rs.  141 crores. With this, the ECHS facility will now be extended to those
areas, where Ex-Servicemen population is below 2,500 by setting up  polyclinics which are within reasonable distance from Ex-Servicemen  concentrations.

   The Cabinet also approved increasing the manpower. It has authorized additional manpower – 2263 in
number on contractual basis, to man the additional 199 polyclinics. It has  also authorized 315 serving personnel – 60 officers and 255 PBORs, for  proposed regional centres and seven officers and 15 PBORs for Central  Organization ECHS.

    Financial implications towards  creation of infrastructure will be about Rs.141 crore. This will entail a
capital expenditure of Rs. 118.52 crore towards cost of land, construction  and medical equipment. An amount of Rs. 22.25 crore of expenditure will  cover purchase of furniture etc, and IT hardware. On the recurring side, an  expenditure of Rs.43 crore per annum is envisaged.

   It may be recalled that the ECHS  was introduced on April 01, 2003 to provide comprehensive medical coverage  to Ex-Servicemen pensioners, war widows and dependents by establishing 227  polyclinics at stations with Ex-Servicemen population above 2500 throughout  the country. 106 polyclinics are at military stations and 121 polyclinics  are at non-military stations. Where the Ex-Servicemen population is less  than 2,500, the Ex-Servicemen face hardships in reaching polyclinics because  of the distance. There are over 30 lakh ECHS beneficiaries now. On an  average 60,000 Servicemen retire every year and this results in a further  addition of 60,000 Ex-Servicemen and 1,44,000 dependents to the list of  beneficiaries each year. Over 7 lakh Ex-Servicemen, who retired prior to  April 01, 2003 have not opted for the scheme primarily due to  non-availability of polyclinics near their places of residence. There are  also insufficient number of regional centres to monitor the polyclinics. Following is the list of additional polyclinics planned to be  established :-

Jammu & Kashmir
   Baramulla, Doda, Poonch, Baribrahmna (Jammu), Kargil,  Nagrota (Kathua)

Himachal Pradesh

   Rampur (Shimla), Nahan (Sirmaur), Shahpur  (Kangra), Palampur (Kangra), Kullu, Dera Goppipur (Kangra), Jogindernagar  (Mandi), Chamba, Ghumarwin (Bilaspur), Sarakaghat (Mandi), Barsar  (Hamirpur),

Punjab

   Mohali, Ajnala (Amritsar),  Tarantaran (Amritsar), Beas (Amritsar), Nawansahar, Suranassi (Jalandhar),  Uchi Bassi (Hoshiarpur), Abohar (Ferozpur), Jagraon (Ludhiana), Batala  (Gurdaspur), Srigovindpur (Gurdaspur), Sultanpur Lodhi (Kapurthala),  Phagwara (Kapurthala), Samana (Patiala), Barnala (Sangrur), Nabha (Patiala),  Doraha (Ludhiana), Samarala (Ludhiana), Mahalpur (Hoshiarpur), Talwara (Hoshiarpur)

Haryana

            Gohana (Sonepat), Mehan (Rohtak), Sampla (Rohtak), Loharu (Bhiwani), Kosli (Jhajjar), Bahadurgarh (Jhajjar), Gurgaon, Nuh (Gurgaon), Charki Dadri (Bhiwani), Mahendragarh, Narwana (Jind), Palwal (Faridabad), Hansi (Hissar), Dharuhera (Rewari), Narayangarh (Ambala), Kharkhauda (Sonepat)

National Capital
Territory of Delhi
            Shakurbasti, Timarpur, Khanpur, Preetvihar

Rajasthan

   Neem Ka Thana (Sikar), Shergarh (Jodhpur), Dausa, Sanganer (Jaipur), Bhuwana (Jhunjhunu), Bhilwara, Suratgarh (Hanumangarh), Dungarpur, Rajsamand, Rajgarh (Churu), Chirawa (Jhunjhunu), Behror (Alwar)

Uttar Pradesh

   Bagpat, Gonda, Basti, Jaunpur, Greater Noida (GB Nagar), Lakhimpur, Moradabad, Bijnaur, Rampur, Hardoi, Banda, Roberts Ganj (Mirzapur), Barabanki, Unnao, Hathras

Uttarakhand

       Joshimath (Chamoli), Dehradun,
Vikas Nagar (Dehradun), Tehri, Rudraprayag, Ranikhet, Almora, Bageshwar,
Banbasa (Champavat), Rudrapur (Udham Singh nagar), Dharchula (Pithoragarh),
Lansdowne (Paurigarhwal), Uttarkashi, Ramnagar (Nainital)

Bihar

            Bhagalpur, Kathiar, Motihari, Siwan, Samastipur, Madhubani, Buxar, Vaishali, Sasaram (Rohtas) Khagaria, Munger, Sitamarhi

Jharkhand
       Deoghar, Gumla, Chaibasa (West Singhbhoom), Daltonganj (Palamu), Dhanbad

Madhya Pradesh
            Satna, Ujjain, Amla (East Nimar), Pachmarhi (Hoshangabad)

Chhattisgarh
            Jagdalpur (Bastar), Bilaspur, Raigarh

West Bengal
            Berhampore (Murshidabad), Baruipur (South 24 Pargana), Bankura, Howrah, Raiganj (North Dinajpur), Cooch Behar, Kalimpong (Darjeeling), Binaguri (Jalpaiguri)

Assam
            Lanka (Naugaon), Bongaigaon, Tinsukia, Tezpur (Sonitpur), Misamari (Darrang), Dibrugarh, Goalpara, Dhubri, Lakhimpur

Manipur
            Chura Chandpur

Nagaland
            Mokokchung

Mizoram
Lunglei

Arunachal Pradesh
            Tezu (Lohit), Along (West Siang)

Orissa
            Puri, Sambalpur, Koraput, Angul, Bhawanipatna (Kalahandi),

Dhenkanal
Andhra Pradesh
            Srikakulam, Anantapur, Karnool, Cuddapah, Nellore, Karimnagar, Eluru (West Godavari), Secunderabad (Rangareddy), Khammam, Mehbubnagar

Tamil Nadu
   Erode, Sivagangai (Sivaganga), Kumbhkonum (Tiruvallur), Chennai, Ramanathapuram, Tambram (Kanchipuram)

Kerala
            Mavelikara (Alleppey), Kanhangad (Kasargode), Kalpetta (Wayanad), Thodupuzha (Idukki), Thiruvananthapuram, Changanacherry (Kottayam), Moovattupuzha (Ernakulum), Iritti (Kannur), Kunnamkulum (Trichur), Kottarakara (Kollam), Ranni (Pathanamthitta), Killimanur (Thiruvananthapuram)

Karnataka
            Kolar, Tumkur, Hassan, Shimoga, Bangalore, Gulbarga, Bidar, Virarajendrapet (Kodagu)

Maharastra
            Beed, Nanded, Karad (Satara), Wardha, Navi Mumbai (Mumbai),
Pune, Khadki (Pune), Yavatmal, Dhule.


Goa
            Vasco – Da – Gama


Gujarat
            Gandhidham, Surat, Rajkot

Pudduchery
       Pudduchery

      In addition to these polyclinics 15 regional centres will also be set up at Shimla, Jalandhar, Dehradun, Ambala, Hissar, Meerut, Allahabad, Ranchi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Nagpur, Vizag, Bangalore, Coimbatore & Trivandrum

SOURCE - PIB