Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, Feb 09, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version
Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Saturday, Feb 09, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Industry & Economy
-
Social Security States - West Bengal ESIC to issue smart cards with unique identification number Our Bureau Kolkata, Feb. 8 Employees’ State Insurance Corporation will be issuing smart cards with a unique identification number to more than 10 million insured persons under the ESI scheme. The process will be initiated this year and completed within 2010, the Director General, ESIC Mr P.C. Chaturvedi, said here on Thursday. “At present the ID’s are issued manually and causes a lot of problems for the beneficiaries when they go to the ESI hospitals for medical services. In most cases they are asked to get certificate from the branch offices and this delays the whole process.” The smart cards will contain all the details of the insured persons stored in the system and a beneficiary will be able to access medical services even if he goes to another State, he said. The corporation is looking at amending the ESI Act soon, Mr Chaturvedi said. It will hold a meeting on February 20 to discuss the issue. The proposals will then be sent to the Centre, which will forward it to Parliament for approval. The entire process will take another six months, he added. Some of the proposals relate to revival of hospitals which have been closed down, through a public-private partnership model, and improving the infrastructure of underutilised hospitals. The corporation also plans to set up medical colleges in all States including West Bengal. ESIC is considering providing medical services in hospitals to non-insured persons as well at a higher cost, Mr Chaturvedi said. There are almost 6,50,000 insured persons in West Bengal. More Stories on : Social Security | West Bengal
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page
|
Stories in this Section |
 |
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | The Hindu ePaper | Business Line | Business Line ePaper | Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | The Hindu Images | Home |
Copyright © 2008, The
Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu Business Line
|