Government has taken steps to correct the circulation of excess ECHS cards
Corrective steps taken / being taken to overcome the shortcomings / deficiencies include outsourcing of pharmacy, authorization of local chemists, enhancement of financial power of Officer in-charge of ECHS polyclinic to obviate the shortage of medicines, processing of medical bills of all 28 Regional Centres on-line as per rules, appropriate use of ECHS funds by the service hospitals, adherence to the terms and conditions of Memorandum of Agreement by the empanelled hospitals, recruitment of the manpower in ECHS polyclinics, de-duplication of ECHS smart cards etc.
There is a system of audit for quality of medicines supplied to ECHS polyclinics. Government has taken steps to correct the circulation of excess ECHS cards. An exercise was carried out to identify the ineligible dependents in 2014. This has led to a reduction of approx. 1.6 lakh cards of dependants who have become ineligible and beneficiaries who have passed away being removed from the total list of beneficiaries. Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) recommendation for New ECHS Smart Cards has been accepted by the competent authority. The new smart card system will ensure that duplicate cards get eliminated.
This information was given by Minister of State for Defence Dr. Subhash Bhamre in a written reply to Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar in Rajya Sabha.