Shift ESI hospital administration: FPIA

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 20

The industrial employees and unit proprietors and their associations demanded shifting of the administration of the ESI Hospital here from the Punjab Health Services to the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).

Mangal Singh, an employee of a unit rolling out submersible pumps in the industrial area, said most of the time we do not get satisfactory medical aid from the ESI hospital, which is situated on the Majitha road. Either medicines are out of stock or specialists are not available in the hospital whenever we visit it, he added.

Most of the labourers use bicycles as their mode of transportation and travelling to the hospital means omission of a working day, said Shambhu Yadav, another artisan working at a warp knitting unit.

DS Goraya, president of the Focal Point Industries Association (FPIA), said, “We have been seeking ESI dispensary at Industrial Focal Point, where nearly 5000 workers are engaged at various Micro Small Medium Enterprise (MSME) units. Despite having such large number of insured persons (IP) with the ESI in the area there is not a single ESI dispensary available.”

In a communiqué to ESIC Director General Raj Kumar, the association sought shifting of the local ESI hospital’s administration to the Employees State Insurance Corporation.

As per the recommendation made by the sub-committee of Employees State Insurance Corporation, it was suggested that there should be two hospitals run directly by ESIC in every state. At present, there is only one hospital in Ludhiana, which is directly run by ESIC.

In Amritsar, ESI has a 125-bed hospital run by the Punjab Health Services. Entrepreneurs in the city demand that this hospital should be run by the ESIC. The distance between Amritsar and Ludhiana is 140 kilometres and from Jalandhar to Ludhiana is 60 kilometres. It is easy for the IPs of Jalandhar to visit Ludhiana but it is very difficult for the IPs of Amritsar to visit Ludhiana.

There is one Hospital in Chandigarh, which is run by ESIC. The insured persns of Mohali and adjoining areas can visit Chandigarh easily. Hence, running the hospital directly by ESIC at Amritsar will also serve the areas of Gurdaspur, Batala, Tarn Taran and Pathankot even of Jalandhar also.