Govt extends ECHS facilities to medically boarded-out officer cadets

New Delhi: In what may bring some relief to the families of officer cadets who had to drop out of military academies due to medical conditions developed during training, the Defence Ministry on Friday announced extending the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) to such cadets who are invalidated from training on medical grounds caused by military training.

Many cadets who join National Defence Academy, Officers Training Academy and Indian Military Academy to get the necessary training before commissioning, suffer lifelong disabilities.

The families suffer as a consequence as they are currently not eligible for ECHS in the absence of the ex-servicemen (ESM) status.

Since 1985, there are around 500 such cadets who were invalidated from training and survive on a monthly ex-gratia, which is often less than the cadet’s medical bill.

The Defence Ministry has now decided that ECHS facility will be applicable to cadets who have been medically boarded out prior to completion of training and is also extendable to similar cases in future. The family members of the cadets will not be a part of the scheme.

The one-time subscription fee of 1.2 lakh that are applicable to ESM officers, will not be charged from the officer cadets for joining the ECHS scheme, says a Defence Ministry statement.

An official communication has also been sent to the three Service chiefs and the Chief of the Defence Staff.

“While a small number of cadets annually are affected, the financial and emotional burden on their families is significant. The current practice is to extend a monthly ex-gratia payment to such cadets. Based on the extent of disability (20%-100%), a monthly ex-gratia disability award is made available to such cadets,” the statement says.

With this approval, these cadets will now be eligible for availing cashless and capless healthcare facilities under ECHS.

Following petitioning from some of the family members, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh last year approved a proposal to increase the ex-gratia by 50%. But it was never implemented as the file was stuck between Defence and Finance ministries.

There are 30 regional centres and 448 polyclinics across India under ECHS with a total beneficiary base of approximately 63 lakh. It has over 3,000 empanelled healthcare organisations under its network, according to the ministry.

Kolkata-based Ankur Chaturvedi, who was medically boarded out of the NDA, while being an officer training cadet in 1996, and has been fighting for the cause of such cadets, welcomed the decision and termed it as a "big relief" for them.

"It is a big win for our fight all these years, and brings a big relief for cadets who have been boarded out on medical grounds," he told PTI over phone.

The Supreme Court on Monday had sought response of the Centre and defence forces in a suo motu case on difficulties faced by cadets, who were medically discharged from military institutes on account of disabilities suffered during training programmes.