Annual Medical Assistance Scheme (BBOCWWB)

What is the Annual Medical Assistance Scheme of the Bihar BOCW Board?

Annual Medical Assistance Scheme is a welfare benefit of the Bihar Building & Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (BBOCWWB), a statutory board constituted under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, and administered by the Labour Resources Department, Government of Bihar. In Hindi it is the Varshik Chikitsa Sahayata Yojana.

The scheme pays Rs 3,000 a year to a registered construction worker towards the cost of medical treatment. It is a small amount by hospital standards, and its logic is not to substitute for health insurance but to reimburse the everyday medical outgo of a household that earns daily wages; consultation fees, medicines, dressings, diagnostic tests and travel to a clinic. For a worker on a daily wage, three thousand rupees is roughly a week of earnings that does not have to be borrowed from a moneylender when someone falls ill.

The board funds all its schemes from the cess levied on construction projects in Bihar under the Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Cess Act, 1996. No part of the benefit comes out of general taxation, and this is why registration and contribution status matter so much: the money belongs to a defined pool that only registered workers may draw on.

Who is eligible for the Annual Medical Assistance Scheme?

You can claim if:

• You are registered with the Bihar Building & Other Construction Workers Welfare Board and hold a labour card. The labour card, not the occupation, is what creates the entitlement.
• Your registration is live, meaning the annual worker contribution has been paid and the card has not lapsed.
• You worked as a construction worker for at least 90 days in the preceding 12 months. The statutory test for registration in the first place. Masonry, brick-laying, plastering, carpentry, bar-bending, painting, plumbing, electrical work and helper work on a construction site all count.
• You hold a bank account in your own name that is Aadhaar-seeded, because the payment is made by Direct Benefit Transfer.
• You are aged 18 or above, the minimum age for registration under the Act.

You cannot claim, or are not eligible, if:

• You are not registered with the board. There is no route to the benefit for an unregistered worker; registration must be completed first, and it cannot be done retrospectively for a past illness.
• Your labour card has expired because the contribution was not paid. Renewal restores eligibility going forward.
• You are an employer, contractor or supervisor rather than a worker doing building work. The Act covers workers engaged in building or other construction work, not those who engage them.
• You have already drawn the medical assistance in the same year. The benefit is annual and one claim per year is the design.
• Your Aadhaar is not seeded to your bank account, in which case the DBT credit will fail even if the claim is sanctioned.

How much does the Annual Medical Assistance Scheme pay?

The scheme pays a flat Rs 3,000 per year. The amount does not scale with the size of the medical bill, the number of family members treated or the nature of the illness. It is credited in a single transfer to the worker's Aadhaar-seeded bank account.

Because it is a flat annual amount, the scheme is best understood as one line in a much larger package. A registered Bihar construction worker is also entitled, on separate applications, to a pension after completing 60 years of age, financial assistance on natural or accidental death, education assistance for children, maternity benefit, marriage assistance, and one-time assistance towards tools, a bicycle or warm clothing. The board's assistance across its schemes ranges from about Rs 1,000 to Rs 35,000 depending on the benefit claimed. Registering once opens all of them, which is the strongest argument for keeping a labour card current even in a year with no illness.

What documents are required for the Annual Medical Assistance Scheme?

For registration itself — the step before any claim. You additionally need a work certificate showing 90 days of construction work in the last 12 months, issued by the employer, contractor or the local body, and the registration fee of Rs 50 (Rs 20 registration plus Rs 30 for three years of contribution).

How to apply for the Annual Medical Assistance Scheme online

1. Open bocwscheme.bihar.gov.in, the Bihar Building & Other Construction Workers Welfare Board's scheme portal.
2. If you are not yet registered, complete registration first: enter your Aadhaar number and mobile number, verify the OTP, upload your 90-day work certificate, bank passbook and photograph, and pay the Rs 50 registration and contribution amount. Note down your registration number.
3. If you are already registered, log in with your registration number and the OTP sent to your registered mobile number.
4. From the list of schemes, select Annual Medical Assistance Scheme (Varshik Chikitsa Sahayata Yojana).
5. Fill the claim form, confirming that your bank account and Aadhaar details on record are correct, and upload any medical documents the form asks for.
6. Submit the claim and save or print the application reference number shown on screen.
7. The labour enforcement officer for your area verifies the claim and the board sanctions it, after which Rs 3,000 is credited to your bank account by DBT.

How to apply offline for the Annual Medical Assistance Scheme

1. Visit the office of the Labour Enforcement Officer or the District Labour Office in your district with your labour card, Aadhaar and bank passbook.
2. Ask for the application form for Varshik Chikitsa Sahayata Yojana and fill it in, attaching self-attested photocopies of your documents.
3. Submit the form at the counter and collect a receipt carrying a reference number.
4. Follow up with the same office on the receipt number until the sanction is passed and the amount is credited.

Many workers also complete the online step through a Common Service Centre or a Vasudha Kendra. These are private operators; the Rs 50 government charge is the only official cost, and anything beyond it is the operator's own service fee.

How to check your BOCW Bihar application status

1. Log in to bocwscheme.bihar.gov.in with your registration number and the OTP sent to your registered mobile number.
2. Open the application status or scheme status section and read the stage shown against your reference number.
3. Call the board's toll-free helpline 1800-296-5656 if the status has not moved for several weeks, keeping your registration number to hand.
4. Check your bank passbook for the credit once the status shows sanctioned.

Why Annual Medical Assistance claims get rejected

• Lapsed labour card. The single most frequent reason. Renew the registration and pay the pending contribution before filing again.
• Aadhaar not seeded to the bank account, so the DBT transfer bounces. This is fixed at the bank branch, not at the labour office.
• Name mismatch between Aadhaar, the labour card and the bank passbook.
• Joint bank account instead of a sole account in the worker's own name.
• Registered mobile number changed and not updated on the portal, which makes the OTP login impossible and stalls everything downstream.
• Second claim in the same year, which is outside the design of an annual benefit.
• 90-day work certificate not accepted at registration stage, usually because it is unsigned or issued by someone who is not the employer or contractor.

Where to get help and raise a grievance

• Toll-free helpline of the Bihar BOCW Board: 1800-296-5656
• Labour Enforcement Officer of your area, the verifying authority and the first place to take a delayed claim
• District Labour Office, for escalation above the labour enforcement officer
• Grievance section on bocwscheme.bihar.gov.in, for written complaints logged against your registration number
• Bihar Building & Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, Labour Resources Department, Patna, for policy and scheme questions

Keep your labour card renewed even in years when you claim nothing. Registration is what unlocks the board's pension, death benefit, education assistance and maternity benefit alongside this Rs 3,000 medical assistance, and reviving a long-lapsed card is considerably harder than paying the contribution on time.