It is an important decision for Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) insured persons (IPs)! Now, in a major development, it has been decided that ESIC beneficiaries would get access to health services under the ESI scheme in all 735 districts of the country from April 1.

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At present, ESIC's health services are fully available for its IPs in 387 districts and partly in 187 districts, while there are 161 districts that do not have such services at all. The ESIC provides health services to IPs through its health centres and hospitals as well as empanelled hospitals.

Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (ABPMJAY)

The ESIC has planned to provide health services to IPs through hospitals and health centres empanelled under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (ABPMJAY). An agreement for the purpose was inked a few months ago.

How does this work?

- Under this arrangement, ESIC beneficiaries shall be able to avail benefits from portability of services provided by ABPMJAY empanelled hospitals across the country and vice versa.

-Thus, the ABPMJAY beneficiaries would have access to the health services provided by ESIC hospitals and health centres.

As per a report in news agency PTI, S P Tiwari, member of the Standing Committee of the ESIC, said, "The Standing Committee in its meeting held on Wednesday approved the budget proposals for implementing an arrangement under which ABPMJAY empanelled hospitals will provide health services to its IPs across the country in all districts from April 1, 2021."

Tiwari, who is general secretary of the Trade Union Coordination Centre (TUCC), attended the meeting held on Wednesday. He said to ensure the availability of medical care in newly implemented areas, the ESIC has already entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Health Authority to enable the ESIC beneficiaries to access services of ABPMJAY empanelled hospitals.

In the 221st meeting of the Standing Committee on Wednesday, revised estimates for 2020-21, budget estimates for the next fiscal and performance budget for 2021-22 of the ESIC were approved.

The panel approved the estimate budget for construction of five 100-bedded hospitals in Bawal, Haryana; Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh; Bahadurgarh, Haryana; Tripur, Tamil Nadu; and Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

It also approved budget for a 200-bedded hospital in Butibori, Nagpur.

Besides, it approved upgradation of a 300-bedded hospital in Nandnagar, Indore, Madhya Pradesh to 500 beds and upgrading a 50-bedded hospital in Phulwari, Patna, Bihar to 100 beds.