ESIC to file affidavit on state of hospitals

October 4: The Bombay High Court has directed the Centre and state governments to file their replies to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL)...

October 4: The Bombay High Court has directed the Centre and state governments to file their replies to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the poor and unhygienic conditions in hospitals run by the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).

A division bench of Chief Justice B P Singh and Justice S Radhakrishnan today also directed the ESIC commissioner to file his affidavit in three weeks on the current state of affairs related to the ESIC scheme. The PIL has been filed by the Bombay Small-Scale Industries Association stating that all ESIC hospitals lack basic treatment and are “insensitive” to the needs of patients.

In its petition, the association said several hospitals in Mumbai,Thane, Sholapur, Nagpur and Pune were devoid of basic medical care. The services provided by ESIC hospitals are “useless” and medicines are always out of stock. The association alleged that medicines are sold outside the hospitals and are unavailable to patients who require them. The conditions are “abhorring” and the doctors are mostly engaged in private practice. It also alleged that employees had to pay illegal gratification to get medical leave sanction.

The association said that as on June 30, 2000, the ESIC held a corpus of Rs 5,764 crore. Of this, Rs 3,379 crore was deposited with the central government under a Special Deposit Scheme and the remaining amount with various banks. The petition further said that the ESIC had collected over Rs 300 crore per year from various employees in the state. However, in return it spent only Rs 114 crore. Of this, Rs 80 crore was incurred on salaries and administration and the rest on machines and equipment.

Despite its robust finances, its hospitals consisted of dingy rooms, dirty toilets and lacked proper medical infrastructure. In contrast, the ESIC spent “extravagantly” on its Delhi-based hospitals. It said hospitals in other states were being meted out “step-motherly treatment”.

The association also alleged non-implementation of the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948, saying the ESIC ignored employees insured under the act. It pointed out that money collected from insured patients was not spent on them fully. It has urged the court to direct the ESIC to furnish details about the state of affairs prevailing in the hospitals and the steps taken by them to implement the act. Advocate Pradeep Bhavnur appeared for the petitioner.