ESIC takes initiative to upgrade ESI hospitals across the country

Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has planned to modernise/ upgrade ESI hospitals across the country with up-to-date and comprehensive facilities for better patient care. These facilities inter-alia include an operation theatre (OT) complex with intensive care units, a labour complex with neonatal intensive care unit and pediatric intensive care units, various laboratory services, a resuscitation area, imaging services, a central sterile supply department (CSSD)/theatre sterile supply unit (TSSU), etc.

The ESI Corporation has given in-principle approval for setting up 105 new hospitals in the country. ESI Corporation (ESIC), in its meeting held on February 10, 2024, has approved norms for establishing Ayush Units in ESI hospitals and dispensaries.  Ayush units are to be established on a co-location basis in those ESIC/ ESI Scheme (ESIS) hospitals and dispensaries and Dispensaries-cum-Branch Offices (DCBOs) where the daily average allopathic Outdoor Patient Department (OPD) registration is more than 150 patients during the preceding 12 months.  The 50-bed ESIC Ayush hospitals are to be co-located with the existing ESI allopathic hospitals having 500 beds or more, out of which 50 beds are to be earmarked for Ayush hospital. 

In addition, ESI Corporation has taken various steps to improve the quality of medical services in ESI Hospitals, as under:

• Enhancement of sanctioned staff strength of ESIC hospitals, as per new norms.
• Enhancement of 50 per cent of bed strength, if bed occupancy is more than 70 per cent in ESIC/ESI Scheme (ESIS) hospitals for the last three consecutive years.
• Formation of state ESI societies so that States have financial and administrative freedom to make decisions for the improvement of medical services.
• Allocation of additional budget under Project Implementation Plan (PIP) for State ESI Schemes.
• The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation provides Rs.200/- per IP per annum over and above the ceiling to the state government, where the bed occupancy in all the State-run ESIS hospitals is more than 70 per cent during the previous financial year.

As regards super speciality services, facilities like Urology, Cardiology, Nephrology, Plastic surgery, Oncology, Paediatric Surgery, Gastroenterology, Endocrinology, Rheumatology, Neurology etc. are provided by some existing ESIC hospitals. Services which are not available in-house are provided through tie-up hospitals.

ESIC has also taken steps for the expansion of medical services and infrastructure in the North Eastern region.  It issued necessary instructions in this regard on June 24, 2024, for upgrading all the ESIC-run one-doctor dispensaries to two-doctor dispensaries to strengthen the primary care services and designate these dispensaries as hub facilities to provide medical services.  It also includes reducing the threshold limit of Insured Persons due to low population density to improve the doctor-patient ratio.

There are 2 Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) run hospitals, one at Beltola (Guwahati) and the other at Tinsukia in the state of Assam, where a total of 41 doctors have been deployed.  In addition, there are 3 ESIC run Dispensary-cum-Branch Offices (DCBOs) in the North Eastern region, one each at Papumpare (Arunachal Pradesh), Darrang (Assam) and Imphal West (Manipur), where one doctor at each location has been deployed. Moreover, there are 41 ESI dispensaries which are run by the states under the ESI Scheme (ESIS).

The empanelment of hospitals/health facilities for providing super speciality medical services to ESI beneficiaries is done by the ESIC for two years.  This includes 29 hospitals/ health facilities in Assam and 1 (one) each in Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura.

This information was given by the Union Minister of State for Labour & Employment, Shobha Karandlaje in a written reply in Lok Sabha

Edits made by EH News Bureau