Bhoomi Pujan of 100 bedded new ESIC Hospital, Bareilly, U.P. was done by Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State (I/C) for Labour and Employment yesterday.

During his address, Shri Gangwar, eighth time Member of Parliament from Bareilly, hailed and expressed gratitude for the efforts of Central Government, State Government & District Administration for realizing the dream into reality of medical needs of the people of his Constituency. He also said that this hospital will now ease the difficulties of IPs and beneficiaries as earlier they had to either travel to AIIMS, Delhi or Lucknow for higher medical treatment. The Minister also announced that the facilities of this ESIC Hospital will be made available to common people by charging nominal user fee. He further said that this Hospital will be turned into a Model Hospital in future.

The other Dignitaries who graced and spoke on the occasion were Dr Umesh Gautam, Mayor, Bareilly, U.P, Dr. Arun Kumar, MLA, Bareilly, U.P. Dr. D. C. Verma, MLA, Mirganj, Shri Ranvir Prasad I.A.S, Commissioner, Barielly, Sh. Nitesh Kumar, IAS, DM, Dr. Keshav Agarwal, Member, ESI Corporation and Smt. Usha Upadhyay, Corporator. All the Speakers profusely thanked the Union Minister for his efforts towards the benefit of the Workers and other people of Bareilly Region. Earlier, Dr. R. K. Kataria, Medical Commissioner welcomed all the Dignitaries and also spoke about the recent moves of ESIC which includes extended benefits made available under ‘Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana’ for the workers across India.

The construction of this Hospital will be done on a plot area of 4.67 acres with an estimated cost of Rs. 90 crores. It will prove to be very beneficial about 2 Lakh ESI Beneficiaries of Bareilly and nearby areas. This hospital will be equipped with may state of the art facilities viz. Minor OT, Resuscitation Room, Casualty Ward, CMO Room, Fracture Clinic, X-Ray, ECG, Sample Collection, Radiology, OTs/ICUs, Wards.

The Employees' State Insurance Corporation is a pioneer Social Security organization providing comprehensive social security benefits like reasonable Medical Care and a range of Cash Benefits in times of need such as employment injury, sickness, death etc. The ESI Act applies to premises/precincts where 10 or more persons are employed. The employees drawing wages up to Rs.21,000/- a month are entitled to health insurance cover and other benefits, under the ESI Act. Today, it is covering about 3.49 crores of family units of workers and providing matchless cash benefits and reasonable medical care to its 13.56 crore beneficiaries. In 1952, the Corporation had only 21 Dispensaries with no ESI Hospital. Today, its infrastructure has increased many folds with 1648 Dispensaries/AYUSH Units and 159 ESI Hospitals, 793 Branch/Pay Offices, 43 Dispensaries-cum-Branch Offices, 64 Regional & Sub-Regional Offices. The ESI Scheme is today stands implemented in 566 districts in 34 states and Union Territories of the country.

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RCJ/RNM/IA