e-SHRAM will be a game-changer for the informal sector : Sh. Bhupender Yadav

Newdelhi:11/9/21:Union Minister for Labour and Employment, Sh. Bhupender Yadav inspected the proposed 300-bed ESIC hospital in Haridwar today in the presence of the Sh. Rameswar Teli, Minister of State for Labour & Employment and Petroleum & Natural Gas.

On the occasion, the Minister said that during the pandemic ESIC has provided relief to the people by throwing open its facilities for the general public and by announcing the COVID-19 relief scheme, where the dependents of the Insured Person are given 90 per cent of the average wages of the deceased worker for the lifetime.

The Union Minister said that in the 185th meeting of ESIC in Rishikesh it was decided that wherever in-house specialisation is not available in ESIC hospitals, patients would be auto-referred to empanelled private medical service providers and wherever any ESI facility is at a distance of more than 10 km from the IP (Insured Person), patients can directly approach the empanelled hospitals for treatment.

Sh. Bhupender Yadav said that ESIC has already sanctioned Rs. 297 Crore for the proposed 300-bed hospital in Haridwar, apart from the two hospitals sanctioned in Dehradun and Kashipur. He expressed hope that land for the hospitals at Dehradun and Kashipur would soon be made available. The Union Minister also said that the proposals for ESIC hospitals at Kotdwar and Khateema would be sympathetically viewed.  He also added that all the support would be provided to the Uttarakhand government to hire medical professionals for the smooth functioning of the ESIC hospital at Rudrapur.

He also added that apart from consolidating and simplifying labour laws into four codes, the government has launched a transformative initiative in the form of e-SHRAM. This centralised database is going to help over 38 crores unorganised workforce.  It will be helpful in the last mile delivery of various social security schemes being implemented by the Central and State Governments.

Sh. Rameswar Teli, Minister of State for Labour & Employment and Petroleum & Natural Gas said that the 300-bed ESIC hospital will be spread in over 5 acres, it will have state of the art facilities for 50 specialities such as nephrology and cardiology. The Minister said that ESIC is currently serving more than 3 crore insured people and over 13 crore dependents through them. ESIC has its presence in 577 districts across the nation. He added that under Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojna 50% of the wages are being compensated to those who have lost jobs during the pandemic.

The Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Sh. Pushkar Singh Dhami promised to resolve the land allotment for ESIC hospitals at Dehradun and Kashipur. Sh. Naresh Bansal, Member of Parliament, Sh. Harak Singh Rawat, Minister of Labour & Employment for Uttarakhand and Sh. Dhan Singh Rawat, Minister for Higher Education for Uttarakhand.