AFVOA Newletters of Year 2003

Page 121 of 170 Question No 50. Can treatment be availed at Augmented Armed Forces Clinics (AAFCs) till the ECHS Polyclinics are fully established and till civil hospitals are empanelled? Will new civil hospitals/diagnostic centres be empanelled later, or will it be a one-time exercise? Answer. a) Augmentation of resources for Military Hospitals. It is pointed out that Army/Naval/Air Force Command Headquarters have already taken action to augment resources at 32 locations even while the construction and equipping of ECHS Polyclinics is to commence. It is also pointed out that all Military Hospitals have been directed to continue to provide existing and some additional support at mil Hospitals till the empanelment of reputed all India private Hospitals is approved. The case for empanelment of such reputed Hospitals is currently under examination by Ministry of Defence. We would also like to mention that once the ECHS membership of a pensioner is approved and he possesses his membership Smart Card, he will be auth treatment in a Mil Hospital subject to availability of bed space/treatment facility/availability of concerned specialists. b) Provision to include new Hospitals. The point is well taken and has been noted for the future. Modification to Govt letter will be undertaken if and when any new service hospitals are constructed. However, we would like to mention that authorization of Polyclinics is strictly based on statistical data of ESM residing in a district and is not related to presence/absence of service hospitals. Question No 51. Can the submission or quoting of Part II Orders/GENFORM/POR be dispensed with as most pensioners do not have copies or cannot recall the authority of marriage and births? Answer. Requirement of Part II Orders. To ensure that there is no fraudulent entry into the ECHS Scheme, the requirement of producing/quoting Part II Orders for Army persons. GENFORM for Naval personnel & POR for AF personnel are mandatory where ever dependants are included in application form. The requirement of above Part II Orders & related documents for Navy and AF, is, however, waived in those cases where ONLY the ESM and spouse wish to become ESM beneficiaries and their details and joint photographs are available on the PPO. It may please be appreciated that PPOs issued prior to 1994 do not contain photographs of the spouse and hence some other form of proof. Question No 52. Why has the rate of contribution for ECHS been enhanced in March 2003? Answer. a) Rate of Contribution. In early Jul 2002, AGs Branch commenced active interaction with Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, regarding ECHS subscriptions. The parameters for contribution by Ex-Servicemen at that stage were erroneously worked out as per the pay rates of Central Govt employees utilizing the CGHS. These lesser rates were erroneously approved by the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Finance. b) Current rates. Subsequently, in the last week of Mar 2003, CGDA raised objections on these rates, as they were less than those for Central Govt employees/pensioners registered with CGHS. While AGs Branch strongly pursued its case with Govt/Ministry of Defence, a sliding scale of payment and the lower rates were not agreed to. We are, therefore, bound to the revised Govt orders and hence the matter has been treated as closed. The current subscription rates are the same as those for CGHS. c) Parity/Disparity amongst civil and defence pensioners. In as far as parity and