New Delhi: The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) on Sunday decided that its health insurance scheme ESI will be implemented across the country by the end of 2022. At present, Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) scheme is fully implemented in 443 districts and partially implemented in 153 districts. A total of 148 districts are not covered under ESI scheme. The ESIC in its 188th meeting, chaired by Labor and Employment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Sunday, has taken important decisions to enhance the medical care and service delivery mechanism across the country, a statement from the Labor Ministry said.
It has been decided that the ESI scheme will be implemented across the country by the end of 2022. (Also Read: SBI Annuity Deposit Scheme: Get Monthly Returns By Making A Single Investment! View Details)
By the end of the year, the partially covered and not covered districts will be fully covered under the ESI scheme, the statement said. (Also Read: Sequoia India Asks Court To Dismiss Its Former Lawyer’s Lawsuit: Report)
Medical care services will be provided through setting up of new DCBOs (Dispensary cum Branch Office) by empaneled MIMP (Modified Insurance Medical Practitioner) and tie-up hospitals of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY).
In addition, ESIC has decided to set up 23 new 100-bed hospitals across the country.
These include six hospitals in Palghar, Satara, Pen, Jalgaon, Chakan and Panvel in Maharashtra; Four in Hisar, Sonipat, Ambala and Rohtak in Haryana; Two hospitals each in Tamil Nadu (Chengalpattu and Erode), Uttar Pradesh (Moradabad and Gorakhpur) and Karnataka (Tumkur and Udupi).
ESIC will also set up one hospital each in Andhra Pradesh (Nellore), Chhattisgarh (Bilaspur), Goa (Mulgaon), Gujarat (Sanad), Madhya Pradesh (Jabalpur), Odisha (Jharsuguda) and West Bengal (Kharagpur).
Apart from these hospitals, five dispensaries will also be opened at 62 places.
In addition, 48 dispensaries will be opened in Maharashtra, 12 dispensaries in Delhi and 2 dispensaries in Haryana.
These hospitals and dispensaries will ensure quality medical care to the insured workers and their dependents.
In order to provide quality medical care, ESIC is augmenting its infrastructure by setting up new hospitals and upgrading the existing ones.
ESIC in its meeting advised the insured workers and their family members through the empaneled hospitals of Ayushman Bharat PMJAY in all the areas where the ESI scheme has been partially implemented or is to be implemented, or where the existing ESIC health facilities have decided to allow them to avail cashless medical care services. Limited.
Through this tie-up arrangement, the beneficiaries of ESI scheme are already availing cashless medical care in 157 districts.
It was decided that departments of Radiation Oncology and Nuclear Medicine would be set up in three ESIC Medical Colleges and Hospitals at Sanathnagar, Faridabad and Chennai.
This will be the first time that such services will be made available at ESIC owned facilities.
Two cath labs will be set up at ESIC Medical College and Hospital in Sanathnagar, Telangana and Alwar, Rajasthan.
It was also decided to upgrade the existing 200 bedded ESIC Hospital in Pune to a 500 bedded facility.
Upgradation of this hospital will benefit 7 lakh workers of Pune and their family members.
Other important decisions taken in the meeting included improving medical care services for insured workers and their family members. ESIC has decided to run the State Government run ESIS Hospital, Sonagiri, Bhopal directly under its administrative control. In order to bridge the gap of non-availability of specialists/super specialists in State Government run ESIC hospitals, ESIC will now hire the required professionals.