Implementation of New System for Local Purchase (LP) & Issue of Not Available (NA) Medicines – Effective 01 Dec 2025
Helping Hands For Veterans
Subject: Implementation of New System for Local Purchase (LP) & Issue of Not Available (NA) Medicines – Effective 01 Dec 2025
As per the latest directive (annexed) issued by the Central Organisation ECHS, the process for Local Purchase (LP) and the issue of NA medicines is being fully integrated with system-generated demand and supply through the ECHS software.
🔹 Key Changes (Effective 01 Dec 2025)
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Local Purchase and issue of NA medicines will ONLY be permitted through system-generated demand and software-based issue.
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Daily Demand Compilation
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All NA medicine demands raised during the day will be compiled after 1500 hrs.
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Supply orders will be generated only through the ECHS software.
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Supply Timeline
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The dealer will supply the demanded medicines to the polyclinic the next day.
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Collection Timeline for Patients
Beneficiaries will need to visit the polyclinic on the next-to-next working day (i.e., after 48 working hours) to collect NA medicines.
🔹 Steps for Beneficiaries When Coming to Collect NA Medicines
(A) Report to the Token Issue Counter with your ECHS card and collect a token for NA medicines.
(B) Proceed directly to the Pharmacy.
(C) Collect medicines from the LP Issue Counter when your token number is called.
(D) If the dealer fails to supply the medicines, NA will be endorsed accordingly.
🔹 Important Operational Note
Due to the new system:
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Footfall at the Polyclinic and Pharmacy will increase.
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The medicine issue will stop after 1500 hrs daily.
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With the current staffing and infrastructure, the polyclinic will be able to issue medicines for approximately 400 patients per day.
Patients beyond this capacity may need to collect medicines the next day.
📣 Beneficiaries are requested to kindly note the new procedure and cooperate.
Please circulate this information widely to all ECHS members.
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Grave Policy Lapses Endangering the Lives of Veteran Beneficiaries
The recently issued directive governing the supply of essential medicines to ECHS beneficiaries, issued under the signature of Brigadier BS Poswal, Deputy Managing Director, ECHS, represents a serious policy failure with potentially life-threatening consequences. The contents of this directive betray either a complete absence of competent medical consultation in its formulation or a wilful disregard for basic principles of clinical care and patient safety.
This policy institutionalizes delay in treatment for sick and vulnerable Veterans—many of whom suffer from chronic, acute, and co-morbid conditions—and replaces medical judgment with rigid bureaucratic sequencing that is fundamentally incompatible with healthcare delivery.
Medically Dangerous and Indefensible ProvisionsUnder this directive, a Veteran reporting sick with acute conditions such as severe diarrhoea, persistent vomiting, dehydration, chest discomfort, cardiac symptoms, urological emergencies, or other time-sensitive ailments is denied immediate access to prescribed medicines if such medicines are unavailable at the Polyclinic.
Instead, the beneficiary is forced into a mandatory 48-hour waiting period for the ALC to supply the medicine. This enforced delay applies irrespective of the clinical urgency, severity of symptoms, or potential for rapid deterioration. Even after this arbitrary waiting period, there is no assurance whatsoever that the “Not Available” medicines will actually be supplied.
Only after the ALC fails to deliver within this timeline is the beneficiary permitted to obtain an “NA certificate” to purchase medicines externally—effectively compelling sick Veterans to wait for failure before allowing treatment.
This sequence is not merely inefficient—it is medically reckless.
Systemic Endangerment of Life and HealthHealthcare policy cannot be designed around logistical convenience at the cost of patient safety. Delays in administering medications for gastrointestinal illness can lead to dehydration and shock; delays in cardiology-related care can result in irreversible damage or death; delays in urological treatment can cause acute retention, infection, or renal compromise.
By mandating delay as a default procedure, this policy knowingly exposes beneficiaries to preventable harm. Such exposure amounts to institutional negligence and violates the fundamental duty of care owed to Veteran patients.
Unavoidable Question of AccountabilityThis policy raises a question that cannot be ignored, deferred, or buried under administrative explanations:
If a Veteran’s condition worsens, if hospitalization becomes necessary, or if a fatal or irreversible adverse event occurs due to this enforced delay—who will be held accountable?
Responsibility cannot be transferred to Polyclinic staff, ALCs, or frontline doctors who are compelled to operate under this directive. Accountability rests squarely with the authority that framed, approved, and enforced this policy despite its foreseeable risks.
A policy that knowingly creates conditions for medical harm carries personal, administrative, and legal liability.
Urgent Need for Immediate CorrectionThis directive must be reviewed, suspended, and corrected forthwith. Any medicine prescribed by an ECHS Medical Officer for an acute or essential condition must be issued immediately, or the beneficiary must be unconditionally permitted to procure it externally without delay.
Veterans did not serve the nation to be subjected to procedural indifference in their time of medical need. They are entitled to timely, humane, and medically sound care, not policies that convert illness into a waiting exercise.
Healthcare delayed is healthcare denied.
For Veterans, such denial is not just unjust—it is dangerous.
BRIG NARINDER DHAND
Brig Narinder Dhand,
Founder & Convener,
Bigger Family of Veterans,
https://bit.ly/4et1wo2,
Knowledge Empowers.
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