New Delhi, 24 Mar 2023: The Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) was launched in April 2003 to provide quality medical care to the Ex-servicemen (ESM) and their dependents. It has 30 Regional Centres (RC) and 433 Polyclinics (PC) pan India including six in Nepal and 3,158 empanelled medical facilities with a total beneficiary base of approximately 55 lakhs. It is structured on the lines of the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) to provide cashless and capless medical treatment cover at CGHS rates.
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| EX-SERVICEMEN PENSIONERS CONTRIBUTORY HEALTH SCHEME |
The scheme entitles all ESM drawing pension from Controller of Defence Accounts, including those in receipt of Disability/ Family Pension and their dependents to be eligible for membership. Membership has been made compulsory for all pensioners with effect from 1st April 2003 and is optional for earlier retirees.
Over the years, the ECHS membership has been extended to pensioners of the Territorial Army (TA), Defence Security Corps (DSC), Uniformed Indian Coast Guard (ICG), Military Nursing Service (MNS), Special Frontier Force (SFF), Nepal Domiciled Gorkha (NDG), Whole-time NCC Officers, Eligible Army Postal Service (APS) pensioners, Assam Rifles pensioners, World War (WW) II Veterans, Short Service Commission Officers (SSCOs), Emergency Commissioned Officers (ECOs) & Pre-Mature Retirees.
The amount of contribution for becoming an ECHS member varies from Rs. 30,000/ for the recruit to Rs. 1,20,000/ for Officers. The ESM who have retired prior to 1st January 1996, war widows and war disabled including those disabled in internal security duties, are exempted from payment of ECHS contribution.
A total of 3,35,62,481 beneficiaries availed of services through ECHS during the last three years:
S No | Calendar Year | Number of Beneficiaries Footfall |
(i) | 2020 | 58,80,023 |
(ii) | 2021 | 1,23,81,583 |
(iii) | 2022 | 1,53,00,875 |
The amount spent under the scheme during last three Financial Years (FY) is given below:
FY | Expenditure in Rs. Crores |
2020-21 | 4579.63 |
2021-22 | 4864.66 |
2022-23 (upto 15.03.2023) | 4897.64 |
The details of the hospitals empanelled under echs across the country, state/ut-wise and district-wise including Andhra Pradesh are as follows:
S No | State/UT | Number of Empanelled Medical Facilities |
1. | Andhra Pradesh | 67* |
2. | Assam | 22 |
3. | Bihar | 40 |
4. | Chandigarh | 39 |
5. | Chhattisgarh | 16 |
6. | Delhi | 274 |
7. | Goa | 04 |
8. | Gujarat | 72 |
9. | Haryana | 368 |
10. | Himachal Pradesh | 50 |
11. | Jammu | 25 |
12. | Jharkhand | 23 |
13. | Karnataka | 133 |
14. | Kerala | 158 |
15. | Madhya Pradesh | 97 |
16. | Maharashtra | 364 |
17. | Manipur | 03 |
18. | Meghalaya | 04 |
19 | Mizoram | 05 |
20. | Nagaland | 01 |
21. | Nepal | 16 |
22. | Orrisa | 33 |
23. | Pondicherry | 04 |
24. | Punjab | 338 |
25. | Rajasthan | 259 |
26. | Sikkim | 01 |
27. | Tamil Nadu | 167 |
28. | Telangana | 39 |
29. | Tripura | 05 |
30. | Uttar Pradesh | 388 |
31. | Uttarakhand | 68 |
32. | West Bengal | 75 |
Total | 3,158 | |
* ANDHRA PRADESH (DISTRICT WISE) BREAKDOWN:
S No | District | Number of Empanelled Medical Facilities |
1. | Krishna | 10 |
2. | Anantapuram | 02 |
3. | Chittor | 05 |
4. | Eluru | 01 |
5. | West Godavari | 03 |
6. | Guntur | 10 |
7. | Prakashnam | 01 |
8. | Kurnool | 01 |
9. | Nellore | 02 |
10. | Kadapa | 02 |
11. | Visakhapatnam | 16 |
12. | East Godavari | 06 |
13. | Srikakullam | 03 |
14. | Karimnagar | 01 |
15. | Khamman | 01 |
16. | Kakinada | 03 |
Total | 67 | |
This information was given by Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Ajay Bhatt in a written reply to Shri mvv Satyanarayana and Shrimati Chinta Anuradha in Lok Sabha today.
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