Workers worried over closure of referral facility

Srikakulam: The workers in industries and other establishments are worried a lot as the government closed the referral facility of patients to local hospitals through Employee State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) hospitals in Srikakulam.

Recently the government has issued an order regarding closure of referral facility to local patients and other ESIC hospitals in Visakhapatnam from Srikakulam. According to the order, only emergency cases will be referred to local private hospitals from ESIC and all other secondary cases, which are non-emergency, will be referred to ESIC hospital in Visakhapatnam instead of local private hospitals in Srikakulam.

The government issued the order to reduce expenditure on medical care of industrial workers and employees to avoid payment of bills to private hospitals.

As super specialty treatment is available at ESIC hospital in Visakhapatnam, the government considering that there was no need to pay bills to private hospitals in Srikakulam every year. Due to lack of facility at ESIC clinics in Srikakulam district, the doctors are referring cases to local private hospitals. But workers of all industries and establishments opposed the government order and demanded it to cancel the order immediately.

CITU State vice-president Duppala Govinda Rao said even for a small or minor ailment, the worker or his family has to visit Visakhapatnam, which puts additional burden on him. ”We are demanding to cancel the order in the interest of workers to save their time and money,” he added.

“To save unnecessary expenditure in the name of private hospital bills, the government issued the orders closing the referral facility to private hospitals in non-emergency cases only,” ESIC State director B Rama Koti told to The Hans India.