Most cabbies lack health insurance

Hyderabad: A new study, Protecting Workers in the Digital Platform Economy, reveals that most app-based transport workers do not have adequate access to health insurance or medical claim measures. This, considering the fact that they face health issues due to long and unusual working hours leading to insufficient rest.

The survey took responses from around over 2,000 respondents from six cities including Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Jaipur, and Lucknow. Conducted by the Indian Federation of App-based Transport workers (IFAT), in collaboration with the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), the survey showed that an alarming 73.5% respondents did not have any form of health insurance or mediclaim policy either for them or for their families.

The data collected through interviews, polls and questionnaires further revealed that majority of taxi drivers suffer from backache, constipation, liver issues, waist pain and neck pain. A significant number of respondents, nearly 60%, identified backache as a major health issue. The survey also focused on harassment faced by drivers from customers, traffic officials, and aggregators which significantly affected their mental health.

“Irrespective of age and income group, most drivers are unable to contribute even a single month’s earnings to their annual expenditure on health. We recently submitted a representation to the prime minister as well as the transport minister to ensure that aggregators provide health insurance,” said IFAT national general secretary, Shaik Salauddin. Earlier this week, transport workers across the country, had urged the government to provide insurance coverage to drivers and workers who had been risking their lives to transport people, essentials amid a pandemic.