Vijayawada: ESI hospital not in pink of health

Vijayawada: Non-payment of bills towards supply of drugs to ESI hospital and non-clearance of bills to private hospitals for treatment extended to patients referred by them has led to scaling down of Medicare facilities for beneficiaries at the 110-bed Gunadala ESI hospital in Vijayawada. For past one year the hospital has been extending only outpatient services.

It is learnt that though the Centre has been releasing funds as per the norms, the State Government had not released the money to the ESI corporation. As a result, the hospital authorities are referring the patients to private hospitals with which they have tie-up and this was resulting in additional burden for the government. The government, it is said, must clear Rs 120-crore worth of bills for supply of medicine and another Rs 100 crore towards bills for referring patients to private hospitals for advanced treatment. As the bills are mounting up, the dealers stopped supplying medicine affecting functioning of ESI hospital.

As a result, the hospital authorities are unable to buy medicines for the past six months and patients are forced to buy medicines from outside. Several surgeries are also pending.

The five-decade old ESI hospital which caters to the medical needs of over two lakh employees and their family members covered under ESI scheme in Krishna, Guntur and Prakasam districts is in dilapidated condition. An expert team from Visakhapatnam inspected the buildings a month back and declared it as non-habitable.

As a result, the hospital authorities have stopped admitting in-patients. Besides, 16 ESI dispensaries are functioning at various places in the region. Over 250 to 300 patients from the three districts visit the hospital daily.

Now, the ESI corporation is planning to shift the present hospital to a temporary campus until completion of new building. As the number of patients are more people are demanding that the hospital be upgraded to a 250 hospital.