COVID-19: Centre Extends Insurance Scheme For Health Workers For Another 180 Days

New Delhi: The Central government’s insurance scheme for health workers fighting COVID-19 has been extended for another period of 180 days. The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP): Insurance scheme for Healthcare Workers Fighting COVID-19 has been extended for a further period of 180 days from 19th April, 2022. It has been decided to extend the policy so as to continue to provide the safety net to the dependents of health workers who are deputed to take care of COVID-19 patients, the government said in an order.

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A letter dated 19th April 2022 to this effect has been issued to Additional Chief Secretaries (Health)/Principal Secretaries (Health)/ Secretaries (Health) of all States/UTs for giving wide publicity amongst the health workers in their respective States/UTs. The PMGKP was launched on March 30, 2020 to provide comprehensive personal accident cover of Rs 50 Lakh to 22.12 lakh healthcare providers, including community health workers and private health workers, who may have been in direct contact and care of COVID-19 patients and may be at risk.

Further, on account of the unprecedented situation, 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 and Institute of National Importance (INI)/hospitals of Central Ministries specifically drafted for care of COVID-19 patients are also covered under the PMGKP, the government said.

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Since the launch of the scheme, so far, 1905 claims of health workers who died while being deployed for COVID-19 related duties have been settled. Meanwhile, India recorded 1,247 fresh COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, registering a huge drop of nearly 43 per cent from yesterday. Active cases now constitute 0.03 per cent of the country’s total Positive Cases. According to the ministry, 928 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours and the cumulative tally of recovered patients (since the beginning of the pandemic) is now at 4,25,11,701 with which the country’s Covid recovery rate stands at 98.76 per cent. The weekly positivity rate in the country currently stands at 0.34 per cent and the Daily Positivity rate is also reported to be 0.31 per cent.

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NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. 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 will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity,  that is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that 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 the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.