Ex-servicemen’s medicare gets Rs.141 crore boost

NEW DELHI - In a major effort to boost the quality of medicare provided to India’s 33 lakh ex-servicemen and their dependents, the cabinet Wednesday approved the creation of 199 additional polyclinics at a cost of Rs.141 crore ($30 million), to take their total number to 426.

Also to be created as part of this effort are 17 mobile military medical facilities and 15 new regional centres, while the central organisation of the employees contributory health scheme (ECHS) will be revamped.

Of the Rs.141 crore, Rs.118.52 crore will go towards cost of land, construction and medical equipment. Purchase of furniture and IT hardware will account for Rs.22.25 crore, while the annual recurring expenditure on the new facilities will be Rs.43 crore.

“The expanded network envisages 426 polyclinics in 343 districts of the country which will benefit ex-servicemen residing in remote and far flung areas,” an official statement issued after a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.

“At present, ex-servicemen residing in remote areas where their population is less than 2500 face a lot of inconvenience in reaching the polyclinics due to their location varying from 200 to 300 km from their place of residence. The expansion of ECHS will provide easy access to health facilities for such ex-servicemen and their dependents,” the statement.

The cabinet also approved the extension of the ECHS to Nepal Domiciled Gorkha (NDG) ex-servicemen and their dependents, who number 100,000, at an annual cost of Rs.85 crore.

Extending the scheme to NDG ex-servicemen “will meet a long outstanding need of their health care”, the statement said.