Lok Sabha Question No. 341 (STARRED), answered on 2022-03-28
Subject: Reforms in ESIC
Ministry: LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
Asked by: Sumalatha Ambareesh, Nalin Kumar Kateel

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. 341

TO BE ANSWERED ON 28.03.2022

## REFORMS IN ESIC

- *341. SHRIMATI SUMALATHA AMBAREESH: SHRI NALIN KUMAR KATEEL:

Will  the  Minister  of  LABOUR  AND  EMPLOYMENT  be  pleased  to state:

- (a)whether  the  Employees'  State  Insurance  Corporation  (ESIC)  has failed to meet the needs of its beneficiaries due to mismanagement, poor  quality  and  weak  governance  in  the  system  and  if  so,  the details thereof;
- (b)whether any study has been conducted by the Government to find solutions for better management of ESIC;
- (c)if so, the details thereof along with the outcome of the study; and
- (d)whether the Government has any proposal to bring reforms involving outcome-measuring and better governance and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT

(SHRI BHUPENDER YADAV)

(a) to (d):   A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a)  TO  (d)  OF  LOK SABHA  STARRED  QUESTION  NO.  341  FOR  ANSWER  ON  28.03.2022 ASKED  BY  SHRIMATI  SUMALATHA  AMBAREESH  AND  SHRI  NALIN KUMAR KATEEL REGARDING REFORMS IN ESIC.

- (a): No,  Sir.    The  Employees'  State  Insurance  (ESI)  Scheme framed under the ESI Act, 1948  has a network of 160 hospitals,  1,517 dispensaries, 76  Dispensary-cum-Branch Offices (DCBOs) and caters to  3.39  crore  Insured  Persons  (IPs)  and  13.16  crore  beneficiaries including the  family members of the IPs. Providing better services to its beneficiaries by ESI Corporation (ESIC) is a continuous process. To strengthen service delivery, ESIC has made tie-up arrangements with 2,104 private hospitals and empaneled 1,003 Insured Medical Practitioners (IMPs) to supplement  the ESIC run medical care. Further,  at  places  where  ESI  hospitals  are  not  available,  integration has  been  done  with  Ayushman  Bharat-Pradhan  Mantri  Jan  Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) and the entire expenditure  for treatment of such ESI beneficiaries is borne by ESIC. Furthermore, to provide specialized  services,  referral  services  are  also  made  available  to eligible beneficiaries.

ESIC  has  also  digitized  various  services  provided  by  it including  registration  of  employers  and  establishments,  demographic registration of employees/ insured persons and their family members, seeding  of  bank  account  details,  health  records,  revenue  income/ expenditure etc. to give efficient services.

- (b) & (c): Taking  into  account  existing  facilities  in  ESIC  and  with objective to further improve the services, Niti Aayog, in consultation with ESIC has identified four broad areas of reforms which inter-alia include  network  expansion,  changes  in  Governance  &  Management, upgradation of IT Management and Increased Beneficiary Engagement. Further,  in  its  meeting  held  on  04.12.2021,  three  Ad-hoc  committees were  formed  by  the  ESI  Corporation,  one  each  on  (i)  Building  & Infrastructure of ESIC, (ii) Human Resource Management and Capacity Building, and (iii) IT Infrastructure in ESIC. Based on the recommendations, dashboards for monitoring of vacancies, bedoccupancy in hospitals and construction projects have been developed.

(d): The Code on Social Security, 2020 has been passed by the Parliament which inter alia envisages expansion of facilities of ESIC at all India level.  In addition, some of the major initiatives taken by the ESIC to improve quality and strengthen governance are as under:-

- i. Reduction in the rate of ESI Contribution from 6.5% of wages to 4% of wages.
- ii. Starting of 07 new hospitals at Rudrapur (Uttrakhand), Alwar and Udiapur (Rajasthan), Bihta (Bihar), Raipur and Korba (Chhatishgarh), Angul (Odisha).
3. iii.
4. Approval for setting up of 54 additional ESI Hospitals.
- iv. Approval for setting up of 109 ESI dispensaries to be run by State Governments
- v. To supplement the medical facilities provided by state government, setting up of 76 new Dispensary-cum-Branch Offices (DCBOs) across the country.
- vi. Collaboration with Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) in 157 districts across the country.
- vii. Empanelment of Govt./Private hospitals in the country for providing secondary and tertiary care medical services.
- viii. For  filling  up  of  vacancies  advertisements  have  been  issued  to recruit    1120  General  Duty  Medical  Officers  (GDMO)  and  297 Specialists doctors through direct recruitment.
- ix. A dedicated programme focusing on preventive health check-up of  ESI  beneficiaries  has  been  launched  by  ESIC  hospitals  in industrial clusters of 15 cities in the country.
- x. Formation  of  state  level  ESI  Societies  so  that  States  have financial and administrative freedom to take decision.
- xi. Enhancement of 50% of bed strength, if bed occupancy is more than 70% in ESIC/ESIS hospitals for last three consecutive years.
- xii. Hospitals  attached  to  the  medical  colleges  besides  providing secondary care, are establishing super-specialty services for the beneficiaries.  (Cath-lab,  dialysis,  oncology,  paediatric  surgery etc.).
- xiii. Participation  of  ESIC  Medical  Colleges  in  National  Institute  of Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking.

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