Rajya Sabha member demands to extend validity of health workers' insurance

Karnataka BJP Rajya Sabha member K C Ramamurthy on Tuesday urged the Centre to extend the Covid-19 frontline warriors insurance scheme's validity.

Under PM Garib Kalyan Yojana, the Centre had announced insurance coverage of Rs 50 lakh to the COVID frontline warriors like doctors, nurses, ASHA workers, medical, sanitary workers, paramedics and others who have been racing against time to provide critical medical care, he said in Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha.

The scheme, which was started initially on March 30, has validity till September 30, 2020

"There are more than 22 lakh public healthcare providers, including community health workers standing as a shield to protect patients inflicted with Coronavirus. There are no signs of this pandemic disappearing in the immediate future. Eminent doctors, scientists and epidemiologists have also been saying that virus may stay for at least another 6-12 months," he said.

To protect frontline worriers, the government should extend the validity period of the insurance scheme from existing September 30, 2020, to at least another six months, he said.