AFVOA Newletters of Year 2004

Page 46 of 153 7. As luck would have, the Patron did get his problem satisfactorily attended to, and he did come home lighter in mind, since he was now cured of his affliction. There was, however, a small catch to it, as those who have not read the fine print in their insurance policies always discover, usually just a little bit too late. The catch was that the Patron was poorer by the better part of a lakh of rupees. Luckily for the rest of us, Apollo Hospital had decided that they had not heard of “cashless” treatment, and you know the rest of it. This cautionary tale has a happy ending though - not one to let things slip, the General promptly shot off a detailed missive to the Army HQ, informing them in his own polite and understated way, of the fact that “something was rotten in the State of Denmark”. The upshot of all this was that no less that Lt Gen MG Girish, VSM, the DG Discipline, Ceremonials & Welfare, who has taken over the steering of the ECHS from Lt Gen Vijay Dua, immediately assured the Patron that things would be set right, and to put his money where his mouth is (as the Yankees put it), committed himself to coming down to Chennai, and seeing things for himself, as well as meeting all of the members of the AFVOA so that he could ascertain for himself how things can be fine tuned in the ECHS. The rest, as one would say, was a piece of cake. Details were tied up by Maj Gen Chander Govindaswamy, whose arm of service Gen Girish happens to share, and by Brig JK Bhore, ADMS at the ATNKK&G Area. Thus it was that our meeting of the 16 th May constituted a kind of highpoint in the roadmap of making the ECHS more effective. 8. About half the final audience of 150 was present at the stipulated time, a little after 1700hrs, awaiting Gen Girish’s arrival. The event had been adequately publicised, with inserts appearing in the leading newspapers of the Metro. Gen Girish arrived, accompanied by Maj Gen Param Jit Singh, VSM, GOC ATNKK&G Area, and a number of other officials. Air Vice Marshal V Krishnaswamy then welcomed the guests, and introduced them to the audience. He requested Gen Girish to make his presentation. Gen Girish started his presentation, and led us through a power-point slide show, accompanied by his detailed exposition, setting out the present status of the ECHS. A brief narrative of what he spoke is set out below. A few copies of an Information Brochure on the ECHS issued by Army HQ on 15 Jan 2004 were handed over some members. Approval of Procedures 9. Gen Girish mentioned that revised powers had been sanctioned in respect of the design, construction, and hiring of buildings for the ECHS. Within four months, rented/re- appropriated or full fledged accommodation would be made available. A high power committee comprising of the Secretary (Defence Finance), Gen Girish, and the DG AFMS was overseeing this. Contracts for the supply of medical equipment would be finalised in the next couple of weeks, with costly equipment being handled by a committee chaired by the Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Defence. Such costly equipment, which included X Ray apparatus, would be positioned within the next 2 to 4 months time. It was hoped that in six months time a few thousand hospitals would be empanelled. A new development was that DG sets had now been sanctioned by the GOI for all ECHS clinics, irrespective of classification. These would be in place within 2 to 3 months. This removes a very serious lacuna in the previous formulation. Cases taken up with the Government of India (GOI) 10. Gen Girish mentioned that the GOI had now sanctioned the request exempting war widows from paying for the ECHS membership. He added that a widow would get the same class of facilities that she would have been entitled to had her spouse been alive, on the basis of his pension, and would not be constrained to a lower class of facility merely because the