Kohima: The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) arranged its first Regional Board Meeting and Awareness-cum-Outreach Programme in Kohima, Nagaland, on June 10.
The initiative aimed to involve directly with stakeholders and beneficiaries to improve understanding and access to the Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) Scheme in the state.
The event was attended by Moatoshi Longkumer, Advisor, Chairman and Minister for Labour, Employment, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of Nagaland. In his address, Longkumer underlined the need to expand coverage of employers and employees under the ESI Scheme to safeguard greater social security benefits for Nagaland’s staff.
Other prominent attendees included P. Sotsula, Commissioner and Secretary, Labour, Employment, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Department, and Anoop Khinchi, Commissioner and Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Government of Nagaland.
The programme aimed to gather ground-level feedback and suggestions to improve ESIC’s service delivery mechanisms and healthcare systems under the scheme. Employers, employees, and representatives from employers’ associations and employees’ unions participated in large numbers, making the session interactive and informative.
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At present, the ESI Scheme has been implemented in 63 districts across the Northeast, including eight districts in Nagaland: Dimapur, Kohima, Mokokchung, Chümoukedima, Niuland, Tseminyu, Wokha, and Zünheboto.
However, awareness of the scheme remains low in newly covered regions, encouragement ESIC to launch outreach efforts like this one to sensitise stakeholders.
The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, a statutory body under the Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India, was established under the ESI Act of 1948. It provides comprehensive medical care and cash benefits to insured persons and their dependents in cases of sickness, maternity, disability, work-related injury, and unemployment.
Now, ESIC serves approximately 4.1 crore insured persons and 15.9 crore beneficiaries across 694 districts in India. It operates through a network of 165 hospitals, 1,590 dispensaries, 8 medical colleges, 65 regional and sub-regional offices, 610 branch offices, and 105 dispensary-cum-branch offices.
The Kohima meeting marked an important step toward consolidation of the ESI framework in Nagaland and safeguarding its welfares reach every suitable worker in the state.
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