ESIC To Cover Entire India Under ESI Scheme: Know All About It

The Employees' State Insurance (ESI) Scheme is fully implemented in 443 districts and partially implemented in 153 districts. The ESI Scheme does not cover 148 districts.

On Sunday, the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) decided that ESI's health insurance scheme would be implemented throughout the country by the end of 2022. Currently, the Employees' State Insurance (ESI) Scheme is fully implemented in 443 districts and partially implemented in 153 districts. The ESI Scheme does not cover 148 districts in total.

In its 188th meeting held on Sunday, the ESIC, under the chairmanship of the Minister of Labour and Employment Bhupender Yadav, has taken significant decisions to enhance medical care and service delivery mechanisms throughout the country, according to a statement from the labor ministry.

By the end of 2022, the ESI Scheme will be implemented nationwide. By the end of the year, the districts which are partially covered and not covered under the scheme will be fully brought under the ambit of the ESI Scheme, the statement said.

To provide medical care services, new DCBOs (dispensaries and branch offices) will be established, as well as MPs (Modified Insurance Medical Practitioners) and hospitals linked to Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY).

Besides, the ESIC has decided to set up 23 new 100-bed hospitals across the country.

In Maharashtra, six hospitals are located at Palghar, Satara, Pen, Jalgaon, Chakan, and Panvel; in Haryana, four hospitals are located at Hisar, Sonepat, Ambala, and Rohtak; in Tamil Nadu (at Chengalpattu and Erode), Uttar Pradesh (Moradabad and Gorakhpur), and Karnataka (Tumkur and Udupi).

Additionally, ESIC will establish hospitals in Andhra Pradesh (Nellore), Chhattisgarh (Bilaspur), Goa (Mulgaon), Gujarat (Sanad), Madhya Pradesh (Jabalpur), Odisha (Jharsuguda) and West Bengal (Kharagpur). In addition to these hospitals, five dispensaries will be established at 62 locations.

The company will also open 48 dispensaries in Maharashtra, 12 dispensaries in Delhi, and two in Haryana. As a result of establishing these hospitals and dispensaries, insured workers and their dependents will receive quality medical care.

ESIC is upgrading its existing hospitals and setting up new ones to provide quality medical care, according to the organization.

As part of the meeting, the ESIC also decided to provide cashless medical care services to injured workers and their families through Ayushman Bharat PMJDY-empanelled hospitals in all areas in which the ESI Scheme is partially or will be implemented or where existing ESIC healthcare facilities are limited. Beneficiaries of the ESI Scheme in 157 districts are already availing of cashless medical care through this tie-up arrangement.

A Radiation Oncology and Nuclear Medicine Department will be established at three ESIC Medical Colleges and Hospitals in Sanath Nagar, Faridabad, and Chennai. ESIC will be able to offer such services for the first time at its facilities, according to the statement. It is planned to establish two cath labs at ESIC Medical College and Hospital in Sanath Nagar, Telangana, and Alwar, Rajasthan.

Moreover, a decision was made to upgrade the existing 200-bed ESIC Hospital in Pune to a 500-bed facility. Seven lakh workers and their families in Pune will benefit from the upgrade of this hospital. In addition to improving medical care services for injured workers and their families, the meeting made other relevant decisions. ESIC has decided to take over the state-run ESIS Hospital, Sonagiri, Bhopal, under its administrative control.

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