Jharkhand has moved to provide health insurance cover to more than 15,000 contractual National Health Mission workers, ending a reported 20-year wait for a benefit that would cover doctors, nurses, auxiliary nurse midwives, general nurse midwives, laboratory technicians and other staff.
Health minister Irfan Ansari said the employees would pay around Rs 1,000 a year for insurance benefits of up to Rs 15 lakh. The proposal has been cleared at the departmental level and will now be placed before the state cabinet for final approval, he told the Times of India.
“The employees will have to pay a minimal charge of around Rs 1,000 per year and will be able to avail insurance benefits of up to Rs 15 lakh,” Ansari said. “I have cleared the file after discussions with departmental officials. The proposal will be sent to the cabinet at its upcoming meeting for final approval.”
The proposed cover would apply to contractual staff working under National Health Mission Jharkhand. The workforce includes clinical and frontline personnel as well as non-technical employees involved in the state’s public-health system.
The announcement addresses a long-standing demand from employees who have worked without health insurance benefits, according to the Jharkhand Anubandhit Para-Chikitsa Karmi Sangh. Anuj Kumar Jha, the organisation’s vice-president, welcomed the move but said workers were waiting for the minister’s announcement to be converted into an approved and implemented benefit.
“We have been deprived of benefits for a long time. Many of our colleagues have retired, and some have passed away without getting such benefits. But we are hopeful that soon the minister’s announcement will turn into reality and we will get our dues,” Jha said.
Ansari said the proposed insurance arrangement recognised the contribution of NHM workers to strengthening Jharkhand’s healthcare services. The announcement, however, does not yet constitute final approval: the state cabinet must consider the proposal before the cover can be implemented.
The cabinet meeting at which the proposal will be placed, and the subsequent details of enrolment, eligibility and claims administration, will determine when the insurance becomes available to the workers. The government has not provided further implementation details in the announcement reported by the Times of India.
