Akshay launches insurance scheme for stuntmen & women

Akshay Kumar is proving to be quite the entrepreneur these days. A few months ago the ‘Rustom’ (2016) actor launched a mobile app called ‘Bharat Ke Veer’, for people to donate money to help families of those who have lost their lives as martyrs. Now Kumar has created insurance for stuntmen and women.

Reported in the Hindustan Times, the initiative came about as Kumar has always believed that the stuntmen and women in the industry risk their lives and should be protected. Collaborating with noted cardiac surgeon Dr Ramakanta Panda, the insurance scheme was created and will cover 380 stuntmen and women between 18 and 55 years of age.

A close source said that this insurance scheme is close to Kumar’s heart, “Akshay has always maintained that he is a “stuntman first and then an actor”. He strongly believes that stuntmen work very hard and take life-threatening risks, so it’s high time they got insured. It’s only going to motivate stuntmen to be more passionate about their work.”

The source further added, “Akshay, along with Dr Panda and others, has been working on the scheme for about four to five months, and the actor is happy that he has managed to do it quickly.”

The insurance scheme will provide the stunt person with a cover for Rs six lakh at about 4,000 hospitals through a cashless system. “Even if they get into a hospital that’s not a part of the network, they can still avail of the benefit through reimbursements,” says the source. And in case of death, there’s a provision of Rs 10 lakh, which will be given to whoever the stuntman chooses as their nominee,” says the source.