Gandhinagar: The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) scheme will be fully implemented across all 31 districts of Gujarat from Oct, bringing 8 to 10 lakh additional workers and their families under the social security net, state labour and employment minister Kunvarji Bavaliya said on Tuesday.An official statement said that the number of ESIC-registered workers in Gujarat is expected to rise from around 21.7 lakh to nearly 32 lakh, taking the total number of beneficiaries, including family members, to about 1.20 crore.Speaking to reporters in Gandhinagar, Bavaliya said the newly covered workers would be eligible for cashless medical treatment, sickness cash benefits, maternity benefits and disability assistance under the scheme.Of the 31 districts, 15 — Amreli, Aravalli, Banaskantha, Botad, Chhota Udepur, Dahod, Dang, Devbhumi Dwarka, Gir-Somnath, Kutch, Mahisagar, Narmada, Patan, Tapi and Vav-Tharad — will have complete coverage. The remaining 16 districts, including Ahmedabad, Anand, Bharuch, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Kheda, Mehsana, Morbi, Navsari, Panchmahal, Porbandar, Rajkot, Sabarkantha, Surat and Surendranagar, currently have partial coverage, which will be expanded, the statement said.The minister said Gujarat currently has 103 ESIS dispensaries and 11 ESIC/ESIS hospitals. Besides, 234 community and primary health centres have been empanelled to provide primary healthcare to beneficiaries.He added that construction of a 350-bed ESIC hospital at Sanand and a 150-bed facility at Kalol is underway, while land allocation for 100-bed hospitals at Halol in Panchmahal and Savli in Vadodara is at an advanced stage, he said. The state govt will also recommend new ESIC hospitals at Mehsana, Gandhidham and Morbi to the Centre, he said.Bavaliya said an ESIC medical college was already operational in Ahmedabad, while a new medical college was being planned in Surat. In the past two months, 68 hospitals — 13 govt and 55 private — had been added to the ESIC panel to improve access to treatment closer to workers’ homes.Eligible workers will also be able to access cashless treatment through 900 private and 1,127 govt hospitals empanelled under the PM-JAY scheme, he said.The statement said the Centre has approved a new sub-regional office (SRO) at Rajkot. The office will handle administrative work, contribution-related matters and claims for 12 districts of Saurashtra and adjoining areas, reducing the need for workers and establishments to approach offices elsewhere.
