Indian Railways mulls health insurance cover for employees

The Railways on Wednesday said it is contemplating to widen the scope of medical treatment of its 13 lakh employees by providing them a health insurance scheme.

In a statement, the national transporter said it was already providing medical health facilities to its employees and their dependant family members through 'Railway Employees Liberalized Health Scheme' and 'Central Government Health Services'.

"Indian Railways is now proposing to widen the scope of medical treatment of railway employees," it said.

Accordingly, a committee has been constituted to examine all aspects relating to a 'Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme' for railway staff with a view to provide an insurance cover against financial risks during medical, emergencies and otherwise, the statement said.

"Indian Railways requested all general managers of zonal railways and production units for their views/suggestions on the aforesaid proposal," it said.

It may be noted that the Indian Railways has a chain of 586 health units, 45 sub-divisional hospitals, 56 divisional hospitals, eight production units hospitals and 16 zonal hospitals spread all over the country with more than 2500 posts of doctors and over 35,000 paramedic staff.

During the pandemic, the Railways dedicated more than 6,500 hospital beds, which is half the number of beds from its 125 hospitals, to COVID-19 patients across the country.