New Delhi, Dec 28 (IANS): The government on Saturday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated, laid the foundation stone and dedicated 28 key projects worth Rs 3,921 crore under the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) this year.

In 2024, ESIC also gave in-principal approval for the establishment of 10 new ESIC medical colleges at Andheri (Maharashtra), Basaidarapur (Delhi), Guwahati- Beltola (Assam), Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Jaipur (Rajasthan), Ludhiana (Punjab), Naroda-Bapunagar (Gujarat), Noida and Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) and Ranchi (Jharkhand).

ESIC has approved the set up for 97 new ESI hospitals across the country in the last 10 years.

To provide the access to quality medical care across the country, ESIC is in process of convergence with Ayushman Bharat- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY).

This will benefit over 14.43 crore ESI beneficiaries and their families. ESIC beneficiaries will be able to avail secondary and tertiary services at over 30,000 AB-PMJAY-empanelled hospitals, with no financial ceilings on treatment costs, said the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

In October, as many as 17.80 lakh new employees were enrolled under the ESIC scheme. The year-on-year analysis showed a growth of 3 per cent in net registrations compared to October last year.

Out of the total 17.80 lakh employees added during the month, 8.50 lakh employees amounting to around 47.75 per cent of the total registrations belonged to the age group of up to 25 years. The gender-wise analysis of the payroll data indicated that the net enrolment of female members was 3.52 lakh in October.

According to the government, the ESI scheme currently offers medical care under 165 hospitals, 1,590 dispensaries, 105 dispensary-cum-branch-offices (DCBOs), and around 2,900 empanelled private hospitals. In the last 10 years, the ESI scheme has been implemented in 687 districts out of 788 districts of the country, from the 393 districts in 2014.