131 Insurance Claims Received For Medicos Who Died Battling COVID-19, Payment Done For 20: Ministry Of Health And Family Welfare

New Delhi: The Central government on Thursday (July 30) informed that it has received 131 claims under the insurance scheme for health workers fighting COVID-19. Out of these, payment has already been done in 20 claims, a health ministry official said. It is important to note that in the wake of coronavirus pandemic in India in March, the union government made an announcement under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package and launched an insurance scheme for health workers fighting COVID-19 with certain conditions.

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A scheme of insurance of frontline healthcare workers was announced by the Union government. Under that scheme, so far we have received 131 claims. The claims are a bit slow in coming because the deceased’s family in the initial days are in a state of shock and therefore, it takes time to sign and to fill up the necessary paperwork. Out of these 131 claims, payment has already been done in 20 claims. In 64 cases of the claims, the payment has been processed and would be done in the coming few days, said Rajesh Bhushan, Officer on Special Duty at the Union Health Ministry.

There are 47 cases of claims, which are with the different state governments. The maximum number of cases are in Maharashtra, Delhi, and Telangana, Mr Bhushan said.

We take this opportunity to give our deep appreciation and gratitude to all healthcare workers (doctors, nurses and paramedics) for the extreme sense of dedication towards their duty. They have done excellent work and today, India has reported one million recoveries of COVID-19 patients. Without their commitment and supreme sacrifice, the figures of one million COVID-19 recoveries would not have been possible, Mr Bhushan said.

According to the insurance scheme announced in March this year, it will provide an insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh for 90 days to a total of around 22.12 lakh public healthcare providers, including community health workers, who may have to be in direct contact and care of COVID-19 patients and might be at risk of being impacted by this. It will also include accidental loss of life on account of contracting COVID-19.

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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol Banega Swasth India campaign is an extension of the five-year-old Banega Swachh India initiative helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. It aims to spread awareness about critical health issues facing the country. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign highlights the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children to prevent maternal and child mortality, fight malnutrition, stunting, wasting, anaemia and disease prevention through vaccines. Importance of programmes like Public Distribution System (PDS), Mid-day Meal Scheme, POSHAN Abhiyan and the role of Aganwadis and ASHA workers are also covered. Only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and become a Swasth or healthy India. The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene.