Health schemes
Physiotherapy and ECHS
How ECHS works for physiotherapy, the Polyclinic route, and what to settle before a course of treatment.
Quick answer
ECHS covers ex-servicemen pensioners and their dependants, and access normally begins at an ECHS Polyclinic rather than at the treating facility. The Polyclinic assesses you and refers you on to a facility empanelled for the scheme where specialist treatment is needed. Dr Nasir Physiotherapy has physiotherapy units in Vikas Puri, Janakpuri, Uttam Nagar, Najafgarh and Dwarka, and will tell you what applies at the nearest one before you travel to it.
Who ECHS covers
ECHS covers ex-servicemen in receipt of a pension and their dependants, under the Ministry of Defence. It is a contributory scheme, which is part of why beneficiaries are often more precise about what it should cover than beneficiaries of other schemes are.
The Polyclinic is the gateway
Unlike private treatment, the ECHS route does not begin at the hospital. Your Polyclinic is the first stop: it treats what it can treat and refers onward where it cannot. For physiotherapy that distinction matters, because some Polyclinics have physiotherapy on site and some do not — so the answer to “where do I go” can differ between two beneficiaries living a few kilometres apart.
Referral, and what it is worth asking about
A referral names a facility and a course of treatment. Before you start, two things are worth settling at the Polyclinic: how many sessions the referral covers, and what happens if the treating physiotherapist recommends more. Physiotherapy almost never finishes in one or two visits, and a referral that runs out mid-course is the usual source of unexpected bills.
What to have with you
Your ECHS card, the referral from the Polyclinic, and any imaging or discharge summaries relating to the problem. If the treatment follows surgery, the operation note matters more than anything else you can bring — it tells the physiotherapist what was done and what the surgeon expects.
What happens between the Polyclinic and the treatment couch
Your Polyclinic referral is not handed to the physiotherapist. It goes to the hospital, whose reception desk registers it against the scheme, and the physiotherapy team is then told that an ECHS patient is booked in. Occasionally the referral comes from a doctor inside the same hospital instead, which shortens the chain but not the principle. The thing to avoid is going straight to a physiotherapy clinic with a Polyclinic referral in hand — that is not where it is processed, and you will be treated privately.
Where we fit
Our physiotherapy units sit inside hospitals, and any empanelment belongs to the hospital rather than to us. That means the answer differs by centre, and it is not something to guess at from a website. Tell us which scheme you hold and where you are, and we will find out and tell you before anything starts.
We work in Janakpuri and Vikaspuri.
Check what your ECHS cover means here
Scheme treatment is arranged through the hospital desk, not by booking a session — so leave your details rather than booking, and we will tell you where to start and what your cover is likely to mean. No payment, nothing to cancel.
We send a short code on WhatsApp to check the number is yours. Nothing is booked and nothing is charged.
Last checked October 2026. Scheme rules change, and this page describes how ECHS generally works rather than your own entitlement. The authority is the Ministry of Defence — echs.gov.in is where the current position is published.
Common questions about ECHS
Is physiotherapy covered under ECHS?
Do I need to go to the Polyclinic first?
Can my dependants use ECHS for physiotherapy?
Does Dr Nasir Physiotherapy accept ECHS?
- Assessment before every plan
- 34 qualified therapists
- 52,959 sessions in the last year
- Centre & home visits