The Central Government has extended the COVID-19 Warriors Insurance scheme under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) for Health workers fighting COVID-19 for a period of one year. It was announced by the Government as part of its INR 1.7 Lakh Crore COVID-19 relief package.
- The insurance scheme provides an insurance cover of INR 50 Lakh to health workers fighting COVID-19 & for those who lost their lives on account of COVID-19 duty, it lapsed on March 24, 2021.
- The scheme is implemented by New India Assurance (NIA) Company Limited.
- It is funded through the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), which is operated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) for this purpose.
Key Points
- There is no age limit for the scheme, the entire amount of premium will be borne by MoHFW.
- It was launched to provide a safety net to around 22.12 Lakh health workers including public healthcare providers, community health workers, who may have to be in direct contact and care of patients suffering from coronavirus infection and who may be at risk of being impacted by this.
- The scheme had approved 287 claims so far.
National Disaster Response Fund
- It is constituted under Section 46 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
- It comes under the Disaster Management Division, Ministry of Home Affairs.
Recent Related News:
i.On July 10, 2020, IRDAI made it mandatory for all general and health insurers to launch short-term standard health policies for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) viz. Corona Kavach and Corona Rakshak, due to the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases in India.
About Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW)
Union Minister – Harsh Vardhan (Lok Sabha MP from Chandni Chowk, NCT of Delhi)
Minister of State – Ashwini Kumar Choubey (Lok Sabha MP from Buxar, Bihar)
