If the state government can undertake pro-active measures, then the Union Ministry of Labour will initiate more schemes in Kerala under the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), said Kodikunnil Suresh, Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment, here on Sunday.
He was speaking to the media during the sidelines of the inauguration of the new ESI office complex.
“If the state government can provide land, then the ESIC would build hospitals in different parts of the state. We are upgrading the facilities at existing hospitals.
Hospitals would be built in districts like Wayanad, where there is not a single ESIC hospital as of now,” he said.
Under the ESI scheme, an offshoot of the ESI Act, 1948, there are 807 centres spread across 29 sates and union territories. The Act is beneficial to employees of around 5.80 lakh factories and establishments across the country, benefiting around 1.71 crore family units.
The Act enables the provision of medical benefits, extended and enhanced sickness benefit, maternity benefit, temporary and permanent disablement benefit, dependant’s benefit, funeral expenses and need-based benefits like rehabilitation and unemployment allowance to the workers and the dependants.
In Kerala, around 6.70 lakh employess are covered under the scheme with 33 lakh beneficiaries.
“ESIC is directly running four hospitals in the state at Pariappally, Asramam (Kollam), Ezhukone (Kollam) and Udyogamandal. The ESIC hospital in Asramam is a super-speciality hospital. The hospital at Udyogamandal would be upgraded to super-speciality status at the earliest. The ESIC has provided a sum of Rs 87 crore to the state government, out of which Rs 42 crore has been disbursed on super-speciality treatment during 2011-12,” Suresh said. The ESIC medical college at Parippally would be constructed on an outlay of Rs 480.79 crore.
A sum of Rs 3.27 crore has been earmarked to upgrade the dispensary at Kollam and Rs 2.52 crore for the branch office and its dispensary.
A sum of Rs 10.58 crore would be spent on the DIMS office at Thiruvananthapuram. The new ESI office complex in Ernakulam will cater to 3,382 employers and nearly 1.25 lakh insured persons with an average disbursement of sixty payments per day.