Saturday, August 31, 2013

ECHS: BIOMETRIC AUTHENTICATION PROCEDURE: VIEWS

Mail received from MD ECHS on the proposed Biometric Authentication Procedure is appended for views/ suggestions of members/officers so that  comprehensive feedback of veterans can be sent to MD ECHS.

Also mail recd from MD ECHS dated 28 Aug 13 is added at the end for info of all about 'Status Quo'.


VERIFICATION OF ECHS MEMBERSHIP

 

1.         It has been observed that a number of ECHS Membership Cards are of ECHS members, who have expired / are not entitled to ECHS Benefits any more continue to be in use. There is thus a possibility of misuse of such cards.  In order to obviate the same and to ensure that data integrity of the ECHS Beneficiary database is maintained, the under mentioned policy on ECHS Smart Cards activation / de-activation is proposed to be implemented :-

           

2.
Ser No
Category of ECHS Member
New Policy
Remarks
 
(a)
ESM / Family Pensioner/ White Card Holder
ESM / Family Pensioner to present themselves at a Polyclinic for biometric verification every year.
Card to be de-activated in case biometric verification not done upto two years.
 
(b)
Parents of ESM
ESM / Family Pensioner to present themselves at a Polyclinic for biometric verification every year.
Card to be de-activated in case biometric verification not done upto two years.
 
(c)
Spouse of ESM
Spouse to present themselves at a Polyclinic for biometric verification every year.
Card to be de-activated in case biometric verification not done upto two years.
 
(d)
Son of ESM / Family Pensioner
Card to be     de-activated at 25 yrs of age
In case the son is dependent after 25 yrs, ESM / Family Pensioner to submit Affidavit for Dependency of son at Parent Polyclinic. Polyclinic to upload documents for verification and approval by Regional Centre.  Card to be  re-activated for one Year on receipt of approval letter from Regional Centre to M/s SITL.
 
(e)
Daughter of ESM / Family Pensioner
Card to be     de-activated at 25 yrs of age
ESM / Family Pensioner to submit Affidavit for Dependency of Daughter at Parent Polyclinic. Polyclinic to upload documents for verification and approval by Regional Centre. Card to be  re-activated on approval letter from Regional Centre to M/s SITL. Card to be  re-activated for one Year on receipt of approval letter from Regional Centre to M/s SITL.
 
(f)
Dependent Sister of ESM / Family Pensioner
Card to be de-activated every year
ESM / Family Pensioner to submit Affidavit for Dependency of Sister at Parent Polyclinic. Polyclinic to upload documents for verification and approval by Regional Centre. Card to be  re-activated on approval letter from Regional Centre to M/s SITL. Card to be  re-activated for one Year on receipt of approval letter from Regional Centre to M/s SITL.
 
(g)
Dependent Minor Brother
of ESM /Family Pensioner
Card to be     de-activated at 25 years of age
-

 

3.         The policy will be made effective from 01 Oct 2013 after vide publicity to all ECHS Beneficiaries. The first de-activation will be undertaken wef 01 Oct 2014 thereby allowing adequate period of one year for ECHS Members to submit necessary proof or biometric verification at ECHS Polyclinics.

You are requested to please give your suggestions / comments on the aspects as given above on emai ID diritechs-mod@nic.in   . It is essential to ensure that only authorised persons only get the benefits of ECHS.

 

From: mdechs@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: [indianveterans] Re: Proposal for VERIFICATION OF ECHS MEMBERSHIP 

No orders are being issued to de-activate ECHS smart cards even if they are not used or verified for a few years. It is only after obtaining a comprehensive feedback from our esteemed veterans and after taking into account their sensitivities that a decision will be taken on how to de-activate cards of beneficiaries who are not entitled to ECHS benefits any more, such as sons above 25 years of age, daughters who get married or are employed and are above 25 years of age etc.

 Status quo will be maintained till such time.

Warm regards,
Maj Gen J George
MD ECHS 

 

 

 

 

 

21 comments:

Maj Rajagopalan C said...

Sir,
We are too good in creating problem for ourselves first & then putting blame on central govt agencies for the subsequent problems.Those who r suffering from chronic desease&when the cost of medicine is more economical than the conveyance exp etc then only a card holder visit a echs polyclinic.he may hence miss the biometric authentication & god forbid if he needs a med emergency no body will give him the facility at all showing the rule books.there are many elderly & physically weak people staying far away from echs polyclinics who may have failed to do biometric authentication & who will take care of him in case of emergency?.Thump impression also does not work at times due to ageing & skin problems.HENCE I AM OF THE OPINION THAT WE SHOULD USE OUR RESOUCES TO AUGMENT THE FACILITIES IN ECHS CENTRES RATHER THAN SPENDING ON GADGETS WHICH WILL BE SOON DUMPED IN A CORNER.We needs to learn from cgis schemes where there are neither any echs like cards or such obstacles in meeting the end user needs.
Maj.Rajagopalan C

corona8 said...

The blog post does not specify the manner of biometric verification being talked about.

Are they now planning to float tenders for iris scanners and related paraphernalia? Couldn't they first focus on ensuring availability of prescribed medicine?

They already have thumbprints in their data bases. Anyone availing the facility can be identified as per the thumb print record. If children of have crossed the age specified for dependants, the ESM could be informed accordingly and the dependant's name removed as per the laid own procedure. Why is there a need for a special verification?

WG.CDR.V.SUNDARESAN(RETD) said...

There is a photograph of the veteran and also the photograph of the spouse on the reverse of the existing card. is this not sufficient? however, the new idea may be welcome. but how the biometric system will help. everytime the veteran/dependent goes to echs, this may not be possible and may introduce much delay in the normal process. instead of cutting time, i think this may introduce more and more delays. queues etc....
v.sundaresan

AKJ said...

The idea is likely to create more complications.
No cards should be deactivated unless the beneficiary becomes non-entitled due to crossing the age
( case of sons etc); whether used or not for any duration.
Existing photographs and thumb impressions should be good enough for identification.
In case of daughters etc; enough time be provided to the ESM/spouse
for submitting the proof of dependency.

sc said...

Attitude in army is of sadism,we must keep others under pressure and enjoy ourselves.echs building of chandigarh is in pathetic state,so are the waiting rooms.one has to spend triple the amount on petrol,waste precious time to get medicine costing very little.MD must ensure availability of medicines first and then take any other step.

Alok Asthana said...

The army is learning fast from the Indian parliament i.e. make a law for every possible eventuality, without taking ANY trouble at all to ensure that the existing rules/resources are made to work. When there is a biometric record of the ESM/spouse on the card, all you need to do is to ensure that the biometric reader in clinic does work.
Why call an old/ill chap every year just to satisfy someone's bureaucratic inclinations?

dogra said...

dear vaterns,
i ,myself have been visiting echs clinic at samba and of the opinion that we should concentrate on providing better facilities and faster services to old and sick vaterns instead of creating hurdles in the normal functioning of echs. the procedures followed at echs is quite okay and the data base is capable of identifying the beneficiary . as far as the dependents are concerned a self signed statment authenticated by any guzzeted officer should suffice.let us learn to make ourselved decent and comfortable.thoughtful comments by the senior vaterns from 1-5 are useful contributions to all readers thanks .

karrivr said...

Aadhaar Card produced along with the ECHS Card will satisfy this requirement.
Why reinvent the wheel by starting another bio-metric data base which exists alredy?

karrivr said...

Aadhaar Card produced along with the ECHS Card will satisfy this requirement.
Why reinvent the wheel by starting another bio-metric data base which exists already?

MSK said...

SUGGESTIONS (S)...

S1. STATUS QUO be MAINTAINED for VETERAN & SPOUSE for their LIFE TIME as their STATUS will not change in their life time

S2...BIOMETRIC VERIFICATION periodically i.e YEARLY be applicable for DEPENDENTS only (eg. Son, Daughter, Parents )

......Defence Generals are the biggest culprits and on record that they will create SAVINGS to EXCHEQUER by instituting new measures to obtain paper recognition for their work such as VSM, AVSM, PVSM ...which incidentally are of no value in civil walk of life after retirement....

Unknown said...

The age old saying in the Army "Bamboo bamboo why are you on the grass and not up my ___' is being proved very true by the ECHS. While there are photographs why other means of identification. They should follow the CGIS patter for better administration without complicates measures keeping them simple

Unknown said...

We are creating more problems for ourselves. ECHS wants proof, ask for additional documents like ration card aadhaar card, voter card, bank account copy, driving licence to verify members/dependants. all affected members will have to visit ECHS every two years from far away areas, spend time and money even if they may not require medical attention in their life. we must find out a better method to avoid misuse of card without giving harassment to old pensioners and their dependensts,

Unknown said...

We are creating more problems for ourselves. ECHS wants proof, ask for additional documents like ration card aadhaar card, voter card, bank account copy, driving licence to verify members/dependants. all affected members will have to visit ECHS every two years from far away areas, spend time and money even if they may not require medical attention in their life. we must find out a better method to avoid misuse of card without giving harassment to old pensioners and their dependensts,

Unknown said...

Why bio-metric verification is required for the Pensioner and Spouse? As regards other beneficiaries, identify the problematic areas (if any) and consider other available options to overcome the problems. Funds should be utilized for improving the facilities of ECHS services rather than on less important infrastructure of bio-metric verification.
Major (Retired) SK Jain

kulwant said...

what happens to NRIs who come once in 2 or 3 years to India and are entitled to this facility.How it is going to manage.Some arrangement must be made so that NRIs are not denied their dues.thanks

OneTopic at a time said...

Dear General George,
As it is the procedure in the ECHS Clinics is complicated and time-consuming. Please start a new initiative after considering that (1) Present ECHS cards have photographs of the Veteran, his/her spouse and other dependents with Date of Birth on the rear of the card.In what way is bio-metrics going to solve a problem that does not exist?
(2) Instead why not streamline the procedure at every ECHS clinic? In some places Veterans need to get tokens from a machine for Dental treatment, for CT of medicines and separately for consultations; then they have to queue up for registration, and finally be allotted a Room # to meet the medical officer. (3) The display boards at each counter state "Officers/ Senior Citizens or Ors" etc but the queues are of all and any Veterans/families.
(4) In some ECHS clinics blood tests are done at the clinic but at others either all or officer Veterans have to go to the nearest BH/CH.
(5) Veterans need photocopies of the ECHS card attached to the forms of referral to empanelled hospitals. Why not a stamp on top of the case sheet with details of the Veteran/spouse/dependent?

I could go on but that will not serve any purpose unless someone visits these ECHS clinics regularly - like an Adm inspection.

Bloomberg said...

WE WANT MEDICLAIM FOR VETERANS : CASHLESS HEALTH INSURANCE SCHEME

In the Corporate Sector MEDICLAIM i.e : CASHLESS HEALTH INSURANCE SCHEME is the norm

In our own wisdom we devised ECHS which is inefficient & no where near MEDICLAIM

Dear Major General,

...."Why don't you think of moving ECHS towards MEDICLAIM where day care, hospital admissions & medicines are covered for 6 members of a family (Veteran & Spouce-2, Children-2, Parents-2) ?"

Unknown said...

There shoulld not be any change in the existing system.In case someone is found misusing the ECHS card,his card should be cancelled and only he be asked to undergo the complete process with penality.Putting everyone through the revised procedure for lone odd case is not justified.

Unknown said...

@RDOA
Sir,
Though out of context under this blog heading,
Any progress on the Directive of RM of 14 June 2014 wherein he had directed AG for opinion.
Regards
Ravi Rao

corona8 said...

@Bloomberg:"..moving ECHS towards MEDICLAIM..";

The basic issue is of the delivery of a service.

How'd mediclaim be able to benefit veterans residing in locations where the best medical cover available is only at a MH or CH through a nearby ECHS?

Also, a totally privatised solution could also have a downside in terms of misuse or malpractice. But, those issues could be addressed.

It's the same for CSD. Instead of the existing issues of having to travel to often ill-stocked URCs, getting some sort of a smart card that would make goods available to veterans at canteen-rates from shopping malls or department stores would be a welcome step, esp if it resulted in simultaneous scaling down of the not too reliable and productive CSD establishment.

The issue is, again, the locational advantage CSD offers to veterans staying in far flung rural areas.

Perhaps what you suggest for ECHS could be a big help on an 'optional' basis. The only stipulation should be, the manpower and infrastructural surpluses with ECHS would be simultaneously scaled down with an optional migration to a system like Mediclaim. The whole ECHS structure is a terrible drain on the exchequer with sub-optimal delivery of service.

Unknown said...

WE ALL ARE THANKFUL TO THE GEN MD ECHS FOR CLARIFYING AND TAKING A BOLD DECISION THAT NO ECHS CARD WILL BE CANCELLED AUTOMATICALLY. SONS AND DAUGHTERS WHO GETS MARRIED OR ABOVE 25 YEARS OF AGE, THEIR CARDS SHOULD BE CANCELLED AND VERY SIMPLE EX SERVICEMEN WILL BE HAPPY TO GET THESE CARDS CANCELLED OR THEIR NAMES GET DEACTIVATED FROM THE MAIN ECHS CARD. THEY NEED TO BE WELL INFORMED FOR SUCH ACTION AND I AM SURE EX SOLDIERS HAVE PRIDE IN THEIR ARMY TRADITIONS AND HAVE HONOR TO FALL PRAY FOR MINOR GAINS. THANKS