Fight against coronavirus: Labour Ministry converts 21 ESIC facilities into dedicated Covid-19 hospitals
Ravi S Singh
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 10
The Union Labour Ministry contributed to the Centre and state governments’ efforts to beef up medical infrastructure and logistics to fight the disease during the period of health crisis caused by Covid pandemic.
The Ministry is gearing up to make further intervention, should the contingency arise.
The Labour Ministry converted its 21 ESIC Hospitals across the country into “dedicated Covid-19 hospitals”.
“More than 2,400 isolation beds, 550 ICU/HDU beds with 200 ventilators have also been made available in these hospitals,” said Union Labour Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar while commending the role of the ESIC in the country’s push-back against the Covid-19.
Quarantine facility (about 1,300 beds) has been made functional in four ESIC Hospitals at Alwar (Rajasthan), Bihta (Bihar), Gulbarga (Karnataka) and Korba (Chhattisgarh).
Besides, Covid testing facility has been made available at ESIC Hospital, Faridabad (Haryana), Basaidarapur (New Delhi) and Sanathnagar, Hyderabad.
Plasma therapy is also being provided at ESIC Hospitals in Faridabad and Sanathnagar for the treatment of serious patients.
“ESIC has been working continuously since its inception to provide social security to its insured persons in India,” said Gangwar.
In the last 67 years of journey, the services of the ESIC have been expanded to about 566 districts out of 722 districts in the country. About 12 crore beneficiaries are receiving ESI facilities.
