Health Ministry may takeover ESI hospitals, develop them like AIIMS: Parliamentary Panel

NEW DELHI: A parliamentary panel has suggested the labour ministry should approach the health ministry to take over ESIC hospitals and develop them on the lines of AIIMS.

"to efficiently utilise infrastructure already created by the ESIC and to ensure uniformity in standards of medical education across all government-run medical colleges, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare may be approached to take over ESIC colleges/medical education projects and develop them like AIIMS since it has both the capability and mandate to run them," said a report tabled in Parliament by Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Friday.

The panel noted that under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, the health ministry has been mandated to set up new AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Science) in various parts of the country along with upgradation of the exercising government medical colleges. The ministry is in the process of acquiring land, building new hospitals and upgrading government medical colleges all over the country.

Stating that there are vacancies in Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC)hospitals ranging from around 26 per cent to 70 per cent in various states, the PAC said, "The ESIC which is functioning on the contributions of the insured persons or subscribers cannot deny medical facilities to them on the pretext of shortage of staff and exhort the labour ministry to address the issue immediately...concrete steps should be taken by the ministry to provide staff in ESIC hospitals within one month of the presentation of this report to the House."

It also suggested that a mechanism be evolved whereby a scientific analysis of the budget estimates of the ESIC be invariably carried out by the labour ministry so as to ensure that the funds are neither lying idle nor excess expenditure is incurred on any project or programme.

The panel has also asked the ESIC to appoint an arbitrator to resolve the issue of recovery of pending dues with the Delhi government because a long time has elapsed without any outcome since it wrote a letter in this regards to the state government on July 11, 2017.