The Ministry of Labour and Employment is planning to significantly raise reimbursement limits for medical treatment under the Labour Welfare Scheme. According to reports from Business Standard, the proposed revamp will increase the reimbursement limit for heart diseases to ₹2 lakh from ₹1.3 lakh and kidney treatment to ₹3 lakh from ₹2 lakh, with coverage expanded to include dialysis. The limit for several other illnesses will rise to ₹40,000 per disease from ₹30,000, including tuberculosis, hernia, appendectomy, ulcer, gynaecological and prostate diseases, and cataract. The revised provisions would also cover diagnostic tests and investigations for these illnesses, with reimbursement based on actual expenditure and subject to prescribed ceilings.
The ministry plans to create a comprehensive digital beneficiary database linked to Aadhaar or another unique identification number, drawing on existing worker records including e-Shram, the government's national database of unorganised workers. As reported by Business Standard, the proposed system will include QR-code-enabled health cards and a portal for registration, medical claims and digital health records. The digital system would provide for online enrolment, outpatient department (OPD) and inpatient department (IPD) registration, e-claims and digital medical records through the Next Gen e-Hospital platform. Health analytics would be used for disease surveillance and policy planning, while health cards would provide for biometric authentication.
The Labour Welfare Scheme was allocated ₹52 crore in the 2026-27 Budget, up from ₹50.68 crore budgeted for 2025-26. According to Business Standard, the revised estimate for 2025-26 was subsequently raised to ₹78.09 crore. The scheme provides health, education and other welfare support to beedi, cine and specified non-coal mine workers and their families. Workers would need a total income from all sources of up to ₹21,000 a month or ₹2.52 lakh a year, be aged up to 60 and have completed at least six months of continuous service. The scheme covers beedi workers, cine workers and workers in specified non-coal mines, with treatment of dependants requiring one year of continuous service.
The proposed changes come against a documented health burden among worker groups covered by the scheme. According to Business Standard, a 2023 review by The George Institute for Global Health and the World Health Organization (WHO), published in BMJ Global Health, examined 95 studies on beedi workers in India and found evidence of serious respiratory, gastrointestinal, neurological and gynaecological diseases, including tuberculosis, asthma and chronic bronchitis. The review also cited a study that found female beedi workers were nearly twice as likely to develop cervical cancer as non-beedi workers. In non-coal mines, fatal accidents increased to 33 in 2024 from 28 in 2023, while fatalities rose to 40 from 33, according to data from the Directorate General of Mines Safety.
