ROURKELA: The demand for setting up a medical college and hospital (MCH) of the ESIC at Rourkela has picked up pace with local outfit Sachetan Nagarik Manch writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister for Labour and Employment Mansukh Mandaviya in this regard on Monday.
The move comes in wake of the announcement by Mandaviya about ESIC’s in-principal approval for 10 new MCHs in the country.
Manch president Bimal Bisi and general secretary PP Ray sent separate memorandums to PM Modi and the union Labour minister urging them to consider the demand of Rourkela for a MCH and occupational disease centre.
Bisi said Rourkela in the tribal-dominated Sundargarh district is a nucleus of industrial and manufacturing activities in western Odisha. Despite having significant concentration of ESIC’s insured persons (IPs), the Rourkela region is deprived of advanced healthcare services.
He said there is a pending proposal for setting up an MCH of ESIC in Odisha with Bhubaneswar being the potential location. “There has been an unfortunate pattern of concentrating ESIC projects and investments in Bhubaneswar at the cost of the poor working class people of western Odisha. Bhubaneswar already has a host of MCHs along with a dozen of tagged reputed hospitals of the ESIC.”
Similarly, Ray said despite the huge concentration of IPs and revenue contribution, the Rourkela region and western Odisha are perpetually deprived of tertiary and multi-speciality healthcare. The government should judiciously consider the demand of Rourkela.
He said given the BJP government’s reputation of allocating projects to deserving and non-capital cities, it is a humble request to remove the regional disparity and simultaneously save the poor working class people of Rourkela and western Odisha region from further suffering and neglect.
The duo also claimed that in states likes Bihar and Karnataka, the MCHs of ESIC provide quality healthcare on par with AIIMS to ESIC card holders and the general public. Setting up of an MCH of ESIC at Rourkela would be a significant step in catering to the advanced healthcare needs of the public of Rourkela, they added.