Cost to access: On health check-up for workers

📌 Summary:

• Government announced free annual health check-ups for workers aged 40+ covered under ESIC (Employees' State Insurance Corporation)
• OSH (Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions) Code 2020 makes health screening mandatory for workers in hazardous industries
• Coverage restricted to formal/insured workers — excludes 90%+ of India's workforce employed in the unorganised sector
• Only ~3.5 crore workers registered under ESIC out of ~50 crore total workforce — a tiny fraction
• ESI Act 1948 governs ESIC; Factories Act 1948 historically provided the foundational workplace health framework
• Editorial argues initiative is positive but fundamentally insufficient without extending to informal workers
• Highlights structural gap: occupational health in India is treated as a formal-sector privilege, not a universal right
• Recommendations: Extend ESIC coverage or integrate informal workers into Ayushman Bharat; create a universal occupational health framework
• CAG and labour economists have repeatedly flagged low coverage density under ESI scheme