The felicitation ceremony to acknowledge the support of various organisations, NGOs, and private citizens to ESIC Hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic was held at Shram Shakti Bhawan, New Delhi. Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister for Labour & Employment, Environment, Forest & Climate Change; and Rameswar Teli, Minister of State for Labour & Employment and Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India, felicitated the representatives of organisation, who contributed oxygen plants, oxygen cylinders, disposable kits, et al, to ESIC Hospitals. More than 100 donors across India have made donations of equipment, kits, disposables and more.
In his address, Yadav appreciated and conveyed his gratitude to the organisations, NGOs, private citizens, who worked for the society during the pandemic. He said that through coordinated efforts of the government, the country overcame the crisis caused by the second wave of Coronavirus.
He mentioned that the government is working on a three-tier approach — Tracking, Testing and Treatment — to stop the menace of Covid-19. He informed, “India is now among leading manufacturers of PPE kits and masks. Around 40,000 ventilators and 1,00,000 oxygen cylinders had been made available to treat the Covid-19 patients. Around 39 crore vaccinations have been done till date and by the end of this year, around 257 crore vaccinations will be completed.” He also lauded the work done by ESIC Hospitals during the second wave of Covid-19.
Yadav said that the government is dedicated to the welfare of poor and deprived people. Multiple measures including free treatment under PMJAY and Rural Electrification programme have been started for the betterment of the underprivileged ones. In the same line, code on social security has been enacted. Through this code, the workers from the unorganised sector and gig economy will now be able to get the social security cover under ESI Scheme.
Teli also addressed the gathering. While extending his greetings to the contributors, he spoke about the service delivery mechanism of ESI Corporation across the country and the workforce of the entire country being benefited out of it.
He praised the latest initiative of the ESI Corporation, the ESIC Covid-19 relief scheme, where periodic payment at 90 per cent of average wages of deceased insured workers is paid to the eligible dependents of the insured worker, who died due to the virus. To date, the periodic payments were payable only against the death of insured workers due to employment injury, but now death caused by Covid-19 has also been included.
Apurva Chandra, Secretary, Labour & Employment, Government of India and Mukhmeet S Bhatia, director-general, ESIC, welcomed the gathering. Chandra lauded the humanitarian approach and efforts of young entrepreneurs in serving society during the pandemic.