Overview

• Eligibility covers officer cadets invalidated during training due to causes attributable to or aggravated by military training, including past cases and future similar instances.
• Benefits include free OPD at ECHS polyclinics and cashless OPD, IPD and diagnostic services at empanelled hospitals, limited to the individual cadet.
• Enrollment requires an application, acceptance of ECHS rules and non-enrollment in any other government health scheme, with the usual one-time Rs 1.2 lakh subscription fee waived.
• The government describes this as a special dispensation that does not create precedent or confer ex-servicemen status or pensions, with broader issues to be addressed in ongoing court-led review.
• The Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance earlier this month and listed the matter for September 4, as reports note roughly 500 cadets have been boarded out since 1985 and previously relied on ex-gratia support; ECHS spans 448 polyclinics and over 3,000 hospitals serving about 63 lakh beneficiaries.