ROURKELA: Pressure is mounting on the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) to improve healthcare services at its Model Hospital in Rourkela and to set up an Occupational Disease Health Centre (ODHC).
Members of the CITU-affiliated Sundargarh Industrial Mazdoor Union (SIMU) recently launched an indefinite agitation, demanding better services at the hospital, along with a medical college and ODHC in Rourkela. The protest was called off after local ESIC authorities assured that steps were being taken to address their grievances.
In a written statement, in-charge medical superintendent Dr AR Behera said four medical officers have been posted to the hospital, one of whom has already joined.
Regarding the demand for a Medical College and ODHC, he informed that ESIC headquarters had sought detailed data on the number of insured persons (IPs) within Sundargarh district and a 50-km radius, the hospital’s bed strength, and OPD and bed occupancy figures for the past three years. These details were submitted through the ESIC Regional Office, Bhubaneswar, on July 30.
He added that problems faced by IPs in Rourkela and nearby areas are regularly communicated to the headquarters through letters and meetings.
CITU Odisha vice-president and SIMU general secretary Jehangir Ali said that by March 2020, over 1.77 lakh IPs were registered under seven ESIC dispensaries in Sundargarh, including three in Rourkela, and others in Jharsuguda, Bargarh, Balangir and Sambalpur. The number has further increased in the last five years. Despite this, he alleged, healthcare services have worsened after 10 experienced doctors, including specialists and the medical superintendent, were shifted to the newly built Model Hospital at Angul.
“Currently, the Rourkela hospital has only 16 doctors against the sanctioned strength of 28, with most of them being non-specialists. Critical posts in medicine, orthopaedics, gynaecology, ENT, and anaesthesia remain vacant, while the hospital also lacks essential equipment and facilities,” he said.