Chikitsa Sahayata Yojana (Medical Assistance Scheme for Construction Workers)

What is Chikitsa Sahayata Yojana in Jharkhand?

Chikitsa Sahayata Yojana is a medical assistance scheme run by the Jharkhand Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, which sits under the Department of Labour, Employment, Training and Skill Development, Government of Jharkhand. The scheme, often written in Hindi as चिकित्सा सहायता योजना, exists for one narrow but very real problem: a construction worker who is admitted to hospital stops earning the moment they stop working, because daily wage work carries no paid sick leave.

According to the Board's scheme details page on the Shramadhan portal, Chikitsa Sahayata Yojana is available to all registered workers who remain admitted in hospital for five or more working days. Payment is made at the minimum wage rate prescribed for the unskilled category of worker, and the total is capped at the equivalent of 40 working days.

The design point matters. Chikitsa Sahayata Yojana is not a health insurance product and not a bill reimbursement. Jharkhand runs a separate Board scheme, Chikitsa Pratipurti Yojana, for the cost of treating listed serious illnesses, and the state's Abua Swasthya Bima Yojana covers hospital treatment cost more broadly. Chikitsa Sahayata Yojana replaces the wages the worker lost while lying in a hospital bed.

Who is eligible for Chikitsa Sahayata Yojana?

A worker qualifies if:

• The worker is registered with the Jharkhand Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board and holds a valid Board registration card.
• Registration is live, meaning the annual contribution to the Board has been paid and the membership has not lapsed. Workers whose contribution has fallen behind can restore membership through the "BOC Worker Re-contribution" service on the Shramadhan portal before claiming.
• The worker was admitted to hospital for five or more working days.
• The worker is engaged in building or other construction work of the kind covered by the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 to masonry, carpentry, electrical work, painting, loading and similar trades on construction sites.

A person is not eligible and cannot apply if:

• The person has never registered with the Board. Registration is the gate for every Board scheme, and it cannot be done retrospectively to cover a hospital stay that has already happened.
• The Board membership has lapsed because the annual contribution was not deposited.
• The hospital stay was shorter than five working days.
• The claim is for a family member's illness rather than the registered worker's own hospitalisation.
• The applicant works in construction but is a contractor, employer or supervisor rather than a building worker as defined under the 1996 Act.

Under the 1996 Act, the standard qualification for Board registration is that the worker is between 18 and 60 years of age and has worked in building or other construction work for at least 90 days in the preceding twelve months. Workers who have not yet registered should complete registration first — through the Shramadhan portal, the BOC Worker Registration mobile app or the district Labour Office, and then claim scheme benefits later.

What documents are required for Chikitsa Sahayata Yojana?

Keep the discharge summary in original. The single most common gap in these claims is a discharge paper that does not state the admission date clearly, which makes the five-day threshold impossible for the Labour Office to verify.

How to apply for Chikitsa Sahayata Yojana

1. Open the Shramadhan portal at shramadhan.jharkhand.gov.in, the Comprehensive Labour Management System of the Jharkhand Labour Department.
2. Log in as a construction worker using your registration number or Aadhaar number and the OTP sent to your registered mobile number. If your mobile number has changed, update it on the portal first.
3. Confirm on your dashboard that your contribution is up to date. If it is not, use the BOC Worker Re-contribution service and deposit the pending amount before filing the claim.
4. Open the scheme benefit application for construction workers and select Chikitsa Sahayata Yojana from the list of Board schemes.
5. Enter the hospital name, date of admission and date of discharge, then upload the discharge summary, doctor's certificate, Aadhaar and bank passbook.
6. Submit the form and save the application number shown on the acknowledgement screen. Every follow-up needs this number.
7. Produce the original documents at the district Labour Office if the verifying officer asks for them.

How to apply offline at the district Labour Office

1. Visit the Labour Office of your district, or the nearest Pragya Kendra (Common Service Centre), with your Board registration card.
2. Ask for the construction worker scheme benefit form and fill in the Chikitsa Sahayata section with the hospital dates.
3. Attach self-attested copies of the discharge summary, doctor's certificate, Aadhaar card and bank passbook.
4. Submit the form and collect a dated receipt carrying the application number.

Offline filing exists because a large share of Jharkhand's registered construction workers are in the Palamu, Garhwa, Dumka and Sahebganj belts where assisted filing at a Pragya Kendra is more practical than self-service online.

How much money does Chikitsa Sahayata Yojana pay?

Payment is wage-linked, not bill-linked. The Board pays the notified minimum wage for the unskilled category of worker for each qualifying day of hospitalisation, subject to the 40 working day ceiling. Because Jharkhand revises its minimum wage rates periodically through Variable Dearness Allowance notifications, the rupee value of the same 40 days changes from year to year. Ask the district Labour Office for the rate in force on the date of your admission rather than relying on an older figure.

Sanctioned amounts are paid directly into the worker's bank account, so an account that is dormant, closed or in a spouse's name is the fastest way to delay your own payment.

How to check the status of a Chikitsa Sahayata claim

1. Log in to shramadhan.jharkhand.gov.in with your registration number and mobile OTP.
2. Open the worker details or application status section and enter the application number from your acknowledgement.
3. If the status has not moved for several weeks, contact the district Labour Office where the claim is under verification, quoting the application number.

The portal also publishes BOC worker reports and verification status dashboards, which district officials use to track pending files.

Why Chikitsa Sahayata claims get rejected

• Hospital stay under five working days, which is a straightforward eligibility failure rather than a paperwork problem.
• Lapsed Board membership on the date of admission. Paying the arrears after the hospital stay does not always revive the claim, so keep contributions current.
• Discharge summary missing the admission date, or a handwritten slip that cannot be verified against hospital records.
• Mismatch between the name on the Board card, Aadhaar and bank passbook.
• Duplicate claim for the same hospitalisation already settled once.
• Bank account not active or not Aadhaar-seeded, so the transfer bounces even after sanction.

Most of these are fixable. A rejected claim can be re-filed with the corrected document, and the district Labour Office will tell you which specific defect was recorded.

Where to complain if the claim is stuck

• Labour Commissioner, Jharkhand: toll-free 1800 3456 526, Shram Bhawan, Doranda, Ranchi.
• Shramadhan technical helpdesk: 7632996057, Monday to Friday, 10 AM to 6 PM, for portal, login and OTP problems.
• Department of Labour, Employment, Training and Skill Development: Nepal House, Doranda, Ranchi 834002, phone (0651) 2490514 and (0651) 2490956.
• Grievance module on the Shramadhan portal, which routes complaints to the district labour machinery and records a tracking number.

No fee is charged by the Board for filing a Chikitsa Sahayata claim. A Pragya Kendra may charge a small notified service fee for assisted filing, but no middleman is entitled to a cut of the sanctioned amount.