COVID-19 crisis: Defence minister approves hiring of additional contractual staff by ECHS clinics

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday approved hiring of additional contractual staff in 51 medical facilities being run under the ex-servicemen contributory health scheme (ECHS) across the country.

The approval was given as part of a policy decision to augment military health infrastructure in view of the coronavirus crisis in the country.

The defence minister's office said the temporary hiring of additional contractual staff over and above the authorised strength in 51 clinics will ensure availability of adequate medical staff during night hours.


"Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has approved temporary hiring of additional contractual staff over and above the authorisation in 51 identified high pressure Ex-servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) polyclinics across the country to tide over the current COVID-19 crisis," the Defence Ministry said.

Last week, Singh had said that the armed forces and the defence ministry will leave no stone unturned in providing all possible assistance to the civil administrations in dealing with the pandemic.

"The contractual staff, including one each of medical officer, nursing assistant, pharmacist, driver and chowkidar for identified ECHS polyclinics, will be hired through station headquarters for night duty, beyond normal working hours, for a period of three months," the ministry said.

The ECHS polyclinics where staff strength is being augmented are in Lucknow, Delhi Cantt, Bengaluru, Dehradun, Kotputli, Amritsar, Meerut, Chandigarh, Jammu, New Delhi (Lodhi Road), Secunderabad, Agra, Ambala, Greater Noida, Gurdaspur, Pune and Trivandrum.

The ECHS clinics in Jalandhar, Kanpur, Gurgaon, Gurgaon (Sohana Rd), Hoshiarpur, Mohali, Chandimandir, Allahabad, Ghaziabad (Hindon), Pathankot, Jodhpur, Ludhiana, Ropar, Tarantaran/Patti, Kolkata, Danapur (Patna), Khadki (Pune), Palampur, Bareilly, Kolhapur, Yol and South Pune (Lohegaon) are also going to be covered under the scheme.

The other ECHS clinics where staff strength is being enhanced are in Vishakapatnam, Jaipur, Guntur, Barrackpore, Chennai, Gorakhpur, Patiala, Noida, Bhopal, Kochi, Vellore and Ranchi.