Benifit For Ex-servicemen On Medical Emergency. Vet. Prabhjot Singh Chhatwal PLS (Retd.)

BENEFIT FOR EX-SERVICEMEN ON MEDICAL EMERGENCY
(Hindustan Times 4-3-2011)

CHANDIGARH: Former defence personnel can get reimbursement for their medical bills incurred while availing emergency medical services abroad equivalent to cost of similar treatment in India, the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) ruled on Thursday in Chandigarh.
A bench of the tribunal made the observation while deciding on petition by Brig TS Sekhon (Retd), who had to undergo emergency treatment for heart disease when he was in Germany with his daughter.
Sekhon had developed triple vessel disease and was advised bypass surgery more than a decade ago. When surgery was to be performed in 2000, he developed acute anterior myocardial with cardiogenic shock, and an emergency angioplasty was done with stenting in one vessel.
He retired in 2003. Due to a worsening heart condition, an automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillator was implanted in his heart in August 2003. In 2008, when he was with his daughter in Germany, his condition deteriorated and he had to take emergency medical treatment there.
The tribunal observed that in case of an emergency like Sekhon's, the army should pay expenses of treatment equivalent to what it would be in India.

Veteran Prabhjot Singh Chhatwal PLS (Retd.)
President.
Ex-Soldiers, Sailors & Airmen Association.
Mob. 098554-09128, Tele-fax 0175-5000896.