Pulkit Vasudha

Ahmedabad, November 6: A 65-year-old retired infantry jawan stands exhausted at the gate of the Ex-Sevicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) polyclinic at Airport Circle in the scorching afternoon sun. The pain in the chest of this erstwhile jawan of the Indian Army has only worsened since 8 am when he left his house in Vejalpur and took a bus to the military cantonment in Shahibaug. The medical officer in the polyclinic referred him to the military hospital for an ECG and to the medical specialist, who prescribed him a list of drugs.

The military hospital being over three kilometres away from ECHS, he took an autorickshaw to return to the polycinic to pick up the prescribed drugs from the dispensary. Since not all the drugs were available there, the ex-jawan had to return to the specialist in the hospital to get authorisation to get the medicines from the hospital dispensary. The pharmacist in the dispensary, however, told him that he would have to buy the medicines since they were low on stock and had to save their medicines for the serving soldiers.

It is a typical case of the harassment faced by retired defence personnel in Ahmedabad. Since the new polyclinic building started functioning in July this year, ex-servicemen coming to the clinic have to shuffle from the clinic to the hospital, where they are referred for advanced treatment and medical tests. While all the specialists are present in the military hospital, medicines for the retired jawans and officers are available only in the polyclinic.

An ex-serviceman says, “It is no secret that the polyclinic is always short of drugs. Both doctors and pharmacists say that the demand of drugs always overshoots the supply.”

The ECHS has tie-ups with local super-speciality hospitals to treat retired defence personnel, the cost of which is borne by the defence department.

In a letter to the managing authorities of the polyclinic and the military hospital, Lt Col (retd) IB Dutt has highlighted the harassment faced by retired defence personnel to get their authorised treatment. “Since the new polyclinic building started functioning five months ago, going to the clinic has become a painful experience. In fact, many defence personnel are ready to spend a little more money and go to a civil hospital rather than go through the rigmarole of endless referrals at ECHS,” says Dutt. “How can anyone expect an aged man to hop from the clinic to the hospital, and then being refused the medicines authorised to him?”

Take the case of a 62-year-old retired colonel who was referred all the way to the Navy hospital in Mumbai for his bypass surgery despite the presence of reputed hospitals like the Sri Krishna Heart Institute and Apollo Hospital in Ahmedabad. He was continually told that according to the orders, all heart patients have to be sent to either Pune or Mumbai for treatment. Yet, he was not operated in the navy hospital in Mumbai due to lack of manpower and finally referred to an empanelled hospital. “The month long delay in the operation could easily have been averted if I could have been referred to an empanelled hospital in Ahmedabad itself,” says the colonel. “We are only following the orders of the station headquarters,” says Col (retd) YR Kaushal, the officer-in-charge of the polyclinic.

The stringent rules of the Army ensure that rules once made are not questioned, arbitrary though they may be. “The complaints and suggestions book at the polyclinic is regularly sent to the higher authorities and they are well-aware of the difficulties faced by retired defence personnel,” says Lt Col PK Sinha Roy, the officer-in-charge of ECHS.

Source: Indian Express