Congress vows to ‘save’ ECHS, seeks release of ₹14,000 crore

Accusing the Central government of weakening the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) through budget cuts and administrative curbs, the Congress on Thursday (January 1, 2026) announced a nationwide “Save ECHS” campaign to highlight pending medical bills of ex-servicemen and disruptions in medical treatment they face.

Colonel (retd.) Rohit Chaudhry, chairman of the AICC Ex-Servicemen Department, said ex-servicemen would start an agitation in the national capital unless the government released ₹14,000 crore for ECHS by January 30.

The scheme covers around 72 lakh beneficiaries, but medical bills of more than 20 lakh ex-servicemen were pending, with outstanding dues exceeding ₹9,000 crore, he said.

As part of the month-long campaign, the Congress would reach out to over 400 ECHS polyclinics across the country to gather data on unpaid bills and assess operational challenges on the ground, Mr. Chaudhry said at a press conference.

He said the scheme needed ₹13,500 crore in 2023-24 but got an allocation of ₹9,831 crore, despite an existing backlog of ₹3,500 crore. The backlog rose to ₹5,400 crore in 2024-25 and has touched nearly ₹6,000 crore in the current financial year, forcing several empanelled hospitals to stop providing treatment to ECHS beneficiaries, the Congress said.

Citing a Comptroller and Auditor General report, Mr. Chaudhry said that ECHS, launched in 2003 as a “cashless and capless” scheme, was facing a crisis due to fund shortages, inadequate infrastructure and staff constraints. In practice, he said, beneficiaries were often required to pay for treatment and subsequently seek reimbursements that were capped and delayed for months.

He alleged that the administrative powers of the managing director of ECHS had been curtailed by the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare, affecting the scheme’s ability to take action against defaulting hospitals.

The Congress demanded clearance of all pending bills immediately, restoration of ECHS’s administrative powers, and bringing the scheme under the Chief of Defence Staff. It sought legislation mandating hospitals that received land at concessional rates to provide priority treatment to ex-servicemen.

Mr. Chaudhry said the party would raise the issue in Parliament and through public mobilisation if the government failed to respond within the stipulated timeframe.