ESIC to run new hospitals by itself, adds OPD consultation for beneficiaries
- Benefits under Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana for COVID-19 induced lockdown extended upto 30 June
- The super speciality services in cardiology including nephrology, urology and oncology in select ESIC hospitals in Delhi-NCR region to be strengthened
The Ministry of Labour and Employment has said all newly constructed hospitals and those approved in future will now be run by the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) itself unless the state government insists to run the hospital. These steps have been taken with the objective to provide better medical services to the beneficiaries, the ministry added.
The labour ministry said, during a meeting held under the chairmanship of MoS for Labour and Employment Santosh Kumar Gangwar, the corporation has decided to take several significant steps to improve its delivery of medical services and other benefits to the workers.
The ministry said the government has decided that in areas where ESIC infrastructure is not available within a radius of 10 km, the beneficiaries will be allowed to avail medical consultation for OPD services directly from a hospital empanelled with the corporation or with Ayushman Bharat scheme without the need for a referral from an ESI dispensary or hospital.
In such cases, if admission for indoor treatment is required, the empanelled hospital will obtain time-bound permission from the ESI approving authority through an online system.
The labour ministry said the government will also strengthen the super speciality services in cardiology including nephrology, urology and oncology in select ESIC hospitals in the Delhi-NCR region, and the same will be extended to other ESIC hospitals across the country in a phased manner.
To improve the infrastructure in its hospitals across the country, the corporation will engage professionals from hospital management or healthcare administration for maintenance, housekeeping, patient assistance, patient safety and other ancillary activities, the ministry said.
The ESIC will also engage the services of project management consultant for monitoring and facilitating execution of hospital and dispensary construction projects of the corporation from the stage of conception till the commissioning of the project, the ministry added.
The labour ministry said it has also been decided to extend the relaxed conditions and the enhanced benefit of 50% of the average per day earning upto a maximum of 90 days under the Atal BeemitVyakti Kalyan Yojana to the insured workers who became unemployed due to COVID-19 induced lockdown for a further period of six months i.e. upto 30 June 2021.
The eligible workers can file their claims on the ESIC portal with the mobile number, Aadhaar and bank details.
There are presently 1520 ESIC dispensaries and 159 hospitals across the country, out of which 45 dispensaries and 49 hospitals are directly run by ESIC, while the remaining are run by the respective State Governments.
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First Published:9 Mar 2021, 10:44 AM IST
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