Further, the ministry approved setting up of new ESIC hospitals, upgradation of few hospitals and taking over a few hospitals from the state governments into the ESIC for better service delivery.
Further, it has decided to continue funding to north-eastern states to run the ESIC scheme for providing better medical care facilities in the region.
The decisions were taken at the 190th meeting of the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) on Monday at Chandigarh under the chairmanship of the labor and employment minister Bhupender Yadav.
“In order to provide relief to insured workers who became unemployed during the Covid-19 pandemic, ESI Corporation in the meeting agreed to the proposal of extending the benefits available under Atal BeemitVyaktikalyan Yojana for two more years,” the labour ministry said in a statement.
Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana (ABVKY) is a welfare measure under which insured beneficiary can avail cash compensation for up to 90 days once in lifetime of the worker in the contingency of unemployment.
The ESI Corporation, during the meeting, also approved setting up of one 100 bedded hospitals each in Karnataka), Telangana, Maharashtra, two in Rajasthan and one in Odisha, a 30-bedded hospital in Andhra Pradesh and a 350-bedded hospital at Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh.“In addition to these, it was also decided to upgrade the newly approved 30 bedded ESIC Hospital at Rangpo, Sikkim to 100 bedded and to take over the ESIC hospital in Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand from the state governments.
“The newly taken over hospitals will be directly run by ESIC to provide better medical care and facilities to workers and their family members,” it added.
Further, ESIC also decided to provide additional financial assistance of Rs 40 lakh per dispensary to north-eastern states, as an additional benefit apart from regular fund allocation under Standard Medical Care. “This shall also remain available for the new dispensaries, if they are opened as per the extant instructions,” it added.
Further, ESIC also approved the proposal for extension of medical care facilities to the general public free of cost in ESIC hospital and medical college, Alwar (Rajasthan) and Bihta (Bihar) till March 31, 2024, it said.
“Facilities of drugs, dressings and consumables under ESIC will also be provided free of cost to them. It will benefit lakhs of general public in the adjoining areas for availing hassle-free quality medical care free of cost,” the ministry added.