ESIC nod to free annual check-ups, hospital proposals
The ESIC also approved the relaxation of the contributory condition of payment from 70 days to 35 days for eligibility under the ESIC Covid-19 Relief Scheme for families of insured persons who died due to the virus.
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Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav (center) chairs the 186th meeting of ESIC, on Saturday. Credit: PIB
The ESIC announced an annual preventive health checkup program for the Corporation’s insured members aged 40 years and above in phases, starting from ESI hospitals in Ahmedabad, Faridabad, Hyderabad, and Kolkata.
At the 186th meeting of the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) on Saturday, chaired by Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav, a proposal was also cleared for the construction of a 500-bed ESIC Hospital at HSIIDC, Manesar in Gurgaon for the expansion of services of the existing 100-bed hospital as well as the acquisition of this plot for this purpose.
The ESIC also approved the relaxation of the contributory condition of payment from 70 days to 35 days for eligibility under the ESIC Covid-19 Relief Scheme for families of insured persons who died due to the virus.
“We have started a pilot project under which we are providing free medical checkups for insured persons (IPs) of ESIC who are of 40 years or above age every year. We have a dream of ‘Swasth Bharat’. We have around 3.5 crore IPs. So if we also run preventive care units in ESIC along with curative, then we can achieve that vision,” Yadav said after the meeting, adding that the pilot would be further expanded in coming days with the increase in number of IPs to five crore with implementation of the proposed Social Security Code.
ESIC nod to free annual check-ups, hospital proposals – it’s necessary to have ESIC hospitals in locations
The ESIC has also approved the formation of three high-powered committees:
first, headed by Minister of State for Labour & Employment Rameswar Teli on buildings and infrastructure of ESI for monitoring ongoing projects of ESI hospitals, etc.;
second, headed by Labour Secretary Sunil Barthwal on human resources to suggest an action plan for recruitment and manpower of ESIC;
and third, headed by the Labour Secretary on information and technology for capacity building, artificial intelligence, telemedicine, online monitoring of procurement, and dispensing of medicines.
Yadav also talked about the rollout of the mobile app ‘Santusht’ for ESIC beneficiaries for improving the delivery of services. He added that the construction of two ESIC hospitals at Bihta in Patna and Alwar in Rajasthan has been completed and would be inaugurated soon.
All India Trade Union Congress General Secretary Amarjeet Kaur said with new industrial belts having come up in the country, it’s necessary to have ESIC hospitals in locations such as Manesar. “There’s an ESIC hospital at Faridabad, for which workers had to go there. A hospital at Manesar was a long pending demand.”
The ESIC also approved a proposal and process of acquisition of identified land for the construction of a 100-bed ESIC Hospital at Meerut. The Uttar Pradesh government has identified a piece of land measuring 2 hectares and conveyed approval for free-of-cost transfer of the land for 90 years.
The Corporation also cleared taking over of the state government-run ESIC Hospital, Tinsukia, Assam, and its subsequent upgradation as a 100-bed ESIC hospital. The Assam government has consented for handing over the hospital. The ESIC also approved land acquisition for a proposed 30-bed ESIC Hospital at Atchutapuram, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.