The private employees in the state who have taken the medical insurance under the ‘Employees’ State Insurance Scheme’ that was started by the Maharashtra government, are not able to get the medical facilities despite of the insurance premium has been deducted from their salary account. In order to provide affordable medical facilities to private employees, the state government has started Employees State Insurance Cover (ESIC) Scheme which provides Medical Insurance facility in nominal charges. But ESIC administration is unable to facilitate the number of people taken the insurance cover under the scheme.
Till date 24 lakh 7 thousand 910 private employees have taken insurance cover under this scheme in Mumbai and Thane but the number of doctors are there to treat them are inadequate. There are only 444 doctors available for the insured people of more than 24 lakhs. Therefore there is an outrage against the ESIC as the people are not able to take affordable medical services.
Employees who are working in private sector and those wages are less than Rs 21,000, are eligible to opt for Mediclaim under ESIC. ESIC has appointed departmental doctors to provide immediate and affordable medical services to these insurance holders.
Only 444 doctors have been appointed by ESIC for more than 24 lakhs insured persons in Mumbai and Thane. According to the quota procedure, the doctors have 8 lakh 88 thousand insured people. So when the remaining insured people go to register their card to ESIC, doctors refused to get their register their card. Therefore, these remaining 15 lakhs 19 thousand 910 insured people can only avail medical facilities for minor illness at ESIC hospital and for that also they need to travel much.
Dr. Rajesh Swamy, Director (Medical), ESIC
Looking at the increasing number of insurance holders, we have increased doctor’s quota from one thousand 1 thousand to 2 thousand. However, since many doctors’ dispensaries are small, there are problems of space, so we have been taking efforts to resolve this problem. We are also trying to increase the number of doctors.
Babasaheb Shirsat, ESIC Insurance holder
The ESIC doctors in my area have refused to register my card as their quota is now over. So I had to go to the ESIC hospital in Mulund. As I stay in Vikhroli it is not convenient for me to travel to Mulund as it is time consuming and also financially not affordable.
