The move will ensure availability of immediate medical attention even during night hours to acute cases in these areas to the veterans and their dependents

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday approved temporary hiring of additional staff on contract in 51 identified high pressure Ex-servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) polyclinics across the country to tide over the current COVID-19 crisis, said a Ministry of Defence release.

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 month, the release said.

The high pressure ECHS polyclinics to be covered are in Lucknow, Delhi Cantt (BHDC), Bangalore (Urban), Dehradun, Kotputli, Amritsar, Meerut, Chandigarh, Jammu, New Delhi (Lodhi Road), Secunderabad, Agra, Ambala, Greater Noida, Gurdaspur, Pune, Trivandrum, Jalandhar, Kanpur, Gurgaon, Gurgaon (Sohana Rd), Hoshiarpur, Mohali, Chandimandir, Allahabad, Ghaziabad (Hindon), Pathankot, Jodhpur, Ludhiana, Ropar, Tarn Taran/Patti, Kolkata, Danapur (Patna), Khadki (Pune), Palampur, Bareilly, Kolhapur, Yol, South Pune (Lohegaon), Visakhapatnam, Jaipur, Guntur, Barrackpore, Chennai, Gorakhpur, Patiala, Noida, Bhopal, Kochi, Vellore and Ranchi, it said.

The move will ensure availability of immediate medical attention even during night hours to acute cases in these areas to the veterans and their dependents, it added. The validity of this sanction is up to August 15, 2021, said the release.