Amid rising coronavirus cases in the country, Rs 50 lakh insurance scheme for the healthcare workers who lose their lives in the line of COVID-19 duty is set to expire on April 24. Meanwhile, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Monday announced that all claims under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) will be settled by the Insurance Company till April 24, after which a new dispensation will be provided to cover 'Corona Warriors'.
Taking to Twitter, the Ministry said that it is already in talks with the Insurance Company for the new scheme to cover COVID-19 warriors.
"The claims under PMGKP will be settled by the Insurance Company till 24th of April 2021. Thereafter a new dispensation will be provided to cover the Corona Warriors, for which the Ministry is in talks with the Insurance Company (New India Assurance)," it tweeted.
"Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package(PMGKP) was announced on March 2020, and was extended thrice till 24 April '21. It was launched to provide a safety net to Health Workers to ensure that in case of any adversity due to COVID19, their families are taken care of," the Ministry said in another tweet.
The MoHFW reported that insurance cover of upto Rs 50 Lakhs has been provided under the scheme and 287 claims have been paid by the Insurance Company so far.
"The Scheme has played a crucial psychological role in boosting the morale of the Health Workers fighting COVID19," it said.
Meanwhile, India reported the highest single-day spike of coronavirus cases with over 2.73 lakh fresh infections and 1,619 deaths in the last 24 hours.
According to the Health Ministry, India reported at least 2,73,810 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of positive cases in the country to 1,50,61,919. There are currently 19,29,329 active cases in the country as of Monday.
(With inputs from Agencies)
