DIMAPUR — Employee
State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), North East Region, held its first regional
board meeting in Nagaland and an awareness-cum-outreach programme at Hotel
Vivor, Kohima, on Tuesday to share information and knowledge with stakeholders
and beneficiaries about the ESI Scheme.
According to a press release, the interactive meeting
provided a unique opportunity for sharing information and grievance redressal.
Participants attend the ESIC North East Region's first
regional board meeting and awareness-cum-outreach programme at Hotel Vivor,
Kohima, on Tuesday.
Moatoshi Longkumer, Advisor for Labour and Employment, Skill
Development and Entrepreneurship, speaking on the occasion and chairing the
meeting, emphasised the need to cover a greater number of employers and their
employees, i.e., insured persons, so that Nagaland’s workforce can receive
social security benefits through the ESI Scheme.
T L Yaden, financial commissioner of the ESIC, stated that
ESIC is one of the largest organisations in the world in delivering social
security to workers in the form of medical and cash benefits. She added that
the convergence of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) with ESIC will
significantly contribute to establishing secondary and tertiary tie-ups in
Nagaland.
Pranay Sinha, insurance commissioner of the NE Zone, added
that an ESIC hospital in Nagaland may be set up once the number of insured
persons in the state reaches 15,000. He urged all stakeholders to register
under the ESI Scheme.
Robert L Guite, regional director of ESIC North East Region,
stated that the ESI Scheme is implemented in eight districts of Nagaland,
providing services to 5,321 insured persons and 20,646 beneficiaries in the
state. He added that ESIC is working to increase ESI coverage in the
non-implemented districts and to provide better services to beneficiaries.
Dr. Soumya Chakraborty, dean-cum-director of Nagaland Institute
of Medical Sciences and Research, Kohima, lauded the various benefits of the
ESI Scheme and specifically mentioned the Ward of IP Scheme, through which
seats are allocated for the wards of insured persons (IPs) in ESIC medical
colleges.
With this programme, ESIC aimed to gather ground-level
feedback and suggestions to further improve the service delivery mechanism and
healthcare under the ESI Scheme throughout Nagaland.
The ESI Scheme has been implemented in 63 districts across
the north-eastern states. Of these, eight districts of Nagaland — Dimapur,
Kohima, Mokokchung, Chümoukedima, Niuland, Tseminyu, Wokha, and Zunheboto —
have been covered so far.
Under the scheme, full and comprehensive medical treatment,
along with a range of cash benefits, is provided to insured persons and their
dependents in cases of sickness, maternity, disablement, death due to
employment injury, and unemployment.
As of now, ESIC caters to the needs of around 4.1 crore
insured persons and 15.9 crore beneficiaries across 694 districts through its
infrastructure, which includes 165 hospitals, 1,590 dispensaries, eight medical
colleges, 65 regional and sub-regional offices, 610 branch offices, and 105
dispensary-cum-branch offices.
