Lucknow: In a major welfare initiative, the state cabinet on Tuesday approved cashless medical treatment facilities for more than 1.70 lakh non-teaching employees deployed in basic, secondary and Sanskrit education departments, along with their dependent family members.The approval comes following chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s announcement made on Teachers’ Day to provide healthcare security to employees in the education sector. Under the scheme, beneficiaries will be entitled to cashless inpatient treatment at govt hospitals as well as empanelled private healthcare institutions.According to the decision, non-teaching staff working in institutions under the basic education council, aided junior high schools, unaided schools, Samagra Shiksha projects, aided secondary schools, unaided secondary schools and Sanskrit educational institutions will be covered under the cashless treatment programme.The scheme will cover over 1.22 lakh non-teaching employees in basic education and 48,062 employees in the secondary education department, with an estimated budget of Rs 51.1 crore. Govt has proposed an annual premium of Rs 3,000 per employee for implementing the healthcare cover. The scheme will be executed through the state agency for comprehensive health and integrated services (SACHIS), with treatment available in empanelled hospitals notified from time to time.Employees already covered under other govt-funded health insurance schemes, including Ayushman Bharat and state health programmes, will not be eligible for benefits under the new scheme. “The move is expected to strengthen social security for thousands of non-teaching education workers across UP while improving their access to quality healthcare services,” said a govt spokesperson.