Military cadets who have been medically discharged because of suffering disabilities during training will get medical facilities under the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme, The Indian Express reported on Friday.

Such cadets were earlier ineligible for the scheme because they did not have the status of ex-servicemen. They will now be able to avail of free out-patient department services at polyclinics, as well as cashless treatment at hospitals that are part of the scheme, according to The Times of India.

A letter to this effect has been issued by the ex-servicemen welfare wing of the defence ministry to the Chief of Defence Staff and the chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force.

The defence ministry has also said that the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme will be free for cadets who suffer disabilities during training. The cadets will not be charged a one-time subscription fee of Rs 1.2 lakh, which ex-servicemen pay.

However, the letter clarified that the facility will be available only to the cadets and not their families, The Times of India reported.

The development comes 11 days after the Supreme Court sought responses from the Union government and the armed forces in a suo motu case it initiated about the matter.

The court took up the case on the basis of an investigation by The Indian Express, which found that government efforts to increase welfare benefits for cadets disabled during training had been stalled for over a year due to bureaucratic hurdles.

Since 1985, around 500 officer cadets have been medically discharged from military institutions because of disabilities that they suffered during the training. As they did not have the status of ex-servicemen, they only got ex-gratia payments of up to Rs 40,000 per month, depending on the extent of the disability.

This amount, however, was far below what they and their caregivers need, considering their rising medical expenses, the newspaper reported, citing interviews with the cadets and their families.

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