Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The government has approved extending the benefit of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package that provides Rs 50 lakh insurance coverage to healthcare workers in the line of Covid duty to Aanganwadi workers and helpers.
There are about 13.29 lakh Aanganwadi workers and 11.79 lakh helpers in the country.
Officials in the Union women and child development ministry on Tuesday said that workers involved in activities such as awareness and surveillance drives, door-to-door distribution of ration, caring for the infected pregnant women, and vaccination drives will be covered under the scheme.
“These workers are now covered under the insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh under the pandemic period for the entire period of the pandemic beginning March 11, 2020,” said a senior WCD ministry official.
The package covers loss of life due to coronavirus and accidental death on account of infectious disease-related duties.
The official also added that the district administrations have now been asked to identify such workers and extend the list to the Centre, apart from helping the affected families claiming for the insurance benefit.
“The communication has been given to the states. It is incumbent upon them to operationalize it. We are ensuring that under the package, the support is given to the states,” the official also said.
There is no recent data available on how many healthcare workers have benefitted from the scheme yet but till April this year, 287 claims had been settled which included claims from the families of 168 doctors who died after contracting Covid while treating patients.
The scheme, first announced last year, had been extended for one more year in April after the government tied up with a new insurance company.
