New Delhi: Armed forces veterans suffering from various lifestyle diseases and undergoing long-term treatments can buy their April quota of medicines from any chemist shop, and will be reimbursed it, a new directive issued by the Ex-servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) said.
The move aims to ease crowding at the ECHS polyclinics in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
“Veterans need not go to Polyclinics to collect the medicines for the month of April 2020. One time sanction is hereby accorded to reimburse the above expenditure under individual reimbursement of medical claims,” the ECHS directive said.
“The bills for reimbursement to be submitted by veterans after 15 May, 2020,” it added.
The order will be implemented with immediate effect and stay valid until 30 April.
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The ECHS
The ECHS provides allopathic and AYUSH medicare to ex-servicemen pensioners and their dependents through a network of polyclinics, Service medical facilities, civil empanelled or government hospitals and specified government AYUSH hospitals across India.
The scheme has been structured on the lines of the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) to ensure cashless transactions for the patients. It is financed by the central government.
A senior Army officer said veterans had been directed earlier to avoid physically coming to polyclinics except for emergency cases, to prevent crowding. Many other services, such as routine blood pressure checks, physiotherapy or dental treatments have been stopped at several polyclinics.
The Army has also established command-wise COVID-19 helpline numbers for queries related to the outbreak.
The armed forces have also kept nearly a dozen quarantine centres on standby and kept its resources ready for the government to tackle the coronavirus pandemic and had emphasised on a well-briefed medical staff and also asked its personnel to use personal protective equipment, such as gloves, masks, gowns, goggles, etc., wisely due to their limited availability.
The arrangement of a quarantine facility would be for 30 days, but could get extended too, sources had earlier told ThePrint.
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