The Employees State Insurance (ESI) scheme is a social security insurance scheme that enables the beneficiaries and their dependents to obtain medical treatment benefits, unemployment cash benefits (only in specific cases) and maternity benefits (in the case of women workers). The Ministry of Labour and Employment rolled out the ESI scheme to protect the interest of workers against medical calamities.
Any factory or establishment employing more than ten workers (20 in some states) must register its employees under the ESI scheme. The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) manages the ESI scheme. The ESIC is an autonomous body established under the ESI Act, 1948 and regulates the ESI scheme.
When the workers/insured persons covered under the ESI scheme are rendered disabled to earn due to employment-related injury, they are eligible for the disablement benefit. When the insured persons die/expire due to employment-related injury, their dependents are eligible for pension benefits. The ESI card helps to avail of these benefits easily.
The ESI card is a health card given to the insured person/worker/employee enrolled under the ESI scheme. The workers covered under the ESI scheme can claim medical and sickness benefits at the ESI network hospitals or dispensaries by producing the ESI card or E-Pehchan card. The benefits are provided under the ESI scheme in the form of insurance coverage for the medical expenses of the insured person/beneficiaries and their dependents.
The ESI card is a smart identity magnetic card provided to all workers enrolled under the ESI scheme. The insured person is given two cards, one for himself/herself and one for his/her dependents. However, the insured person needs to produce the physical copy of the ESI card to avail of the medical facilities at the hospitals.
When the dependents of the insured person reside in another town, they can use the ESI card of the insured person at the ESI hospitals to avail medical facilities/benefits under the ESI scheme. The ESI card is mandatory to avail various medical schemes under the ESI Act, 1948.
The ESI card contains the following details of the insured person:
All the above details on the ESI card will be as per the details provided by the employer at the time of ESIC scheme registration of the employee on the ESIC portal.
The process to obtain the ESI card from the ESIC when a worker is enrolled under the ESI scheme is as follows:
The employee needs to take his/her dependents to the ESIC office while submitting the filled counterfoil of the e-Pehchan card to capture the fingerprints. Once the ESIC office captures the fingerprints, it will send two ESI cards to the insured person through a courier.
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ESI scheme provides medical, unemployment, and maternity benefits to workers and dependents. ESIC manages the scheme, issues ESI cards with vital info. Benefits include medical facilities, biometric authentication, and portability. Process involves employer's online application and submission of photos at ESIC office for card issuance.