Defence ministry disabled health cover: Military cadets who get injured and become disabled during their training will now get medical care under the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS). Before this change, these cadets were not part of the scheme because they were not given the status of ex-servicemen.
Now they can visit ECHS polyclinics for free OPD services and they can also go for cashless treatment in the hospitals that are linked with the scheme.
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The Defence Ministry has already sent a letter about this to the Chief of Defence Staff and also to the Army, Navy and Air Force chiefs. The letter explained that the cadets will not need to pay the one-time subscription fee of Rs 1.2 lakh, which normal ex-servicemen have to pay. But the facility will only be for the cadets themselves, their families will not get covered.
Court Action
This step came just days after the Supreme Court asked the Union government and armed forces to give their reply in a case that the court took up on its own. The court decided to look at this matter after an investigation by The Indian Express showed that many government plans to help disabled cadets were stuck for more than a year because of paperwork and delays.
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Since 1985, nearly 500 officer cadets had to leave military training because of serious disabilities they got during the training period. As they did not get ex-servicemen status, they only received ex-gratia money, which could go up to Rs 40,000 every month depending on how bad their disability was. But as the newspaper reported, many cadets and their families said this amount was not enough, as their medical expenses kept growing and the money did not cover all their needs.
