There is provision made under ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package for Health Workers Fighting COVID-19. This is a Central Sector scheme.

The scheme provide an insurance cover of Rs. 50 lakh to healthcare providers, including community health workers, who may have to be in direct contact and care of COVID-19 patients and who may be at risk of being impacted by this. It will also include accidental loss of life on account of contracting COVID-19.

The scheme also covers private hospital staff/ retired/volunteer/ local urban bodies/contract/daily wage/ ad-hoc/outsourced staff requisitioned by States/ Central hospitals/autonomous hospitals of Central/States/UTs, AIIMS & INIs/ hospitals of Central Ministries drafted for COVID-19 related responsibilities.

The insurance provided under this scheme would be over and above any other insurance cover being availed of by the beneficiary.

In addition for treatment of those affected by COVID, Government is implementing Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) to provide health cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to around 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families (approx. 50 crore Individuals) as per Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data. To effectively cover AB-PMJAY beneficiaries for testing and treatment of COVID-19, packages for ‘Testing for COVID-19’ and ‘Treatment of COVID-19’ have been notified.

The Minister of State (Health and Family Welfare), Sh Ashwini Kumar Choubey stated this in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha here today.

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MV