MARGAO
There’s finally good news in store for the beneficiaries under the Employees State Insurance (ESI) scheme.
While the dispensaries reopened after a month-long Covid shut down, the lone ESI hospital in the state located at Margao is set to re-open from July 1.
While the government has decided to de-notify the ESI hospital, Margao, as a Covid facility, there’s finally a ray of hope that the normal operations for ESI beneficiaries will resume at the hospital from next month.
ESI Hospital Medical Superintendent, Dr Vishwajit Faldesai told The Goan that the ESI hospital, Margao will be de-notified as a Covid facility from June 30 in view of the improvement in the pandemic situation in the state.
He said the government has communicated to him that the hospital will be de-notified as a Covid hospital on June 30, paving the way for the resumption of services and operations for the ESI beneficiaries.
The ESI hospital, Margao, was requisitioned by the then South Goa District Collector, Ajit Roy, under the Disaster Management Act in March last year after Covid raised its ugly head in the state last year.
The hospital was initially designated as a quarantine centre for people returning from abroad, before it was notified as a full-fledged Covid facility for want of available infrastructure elsewhere in the state.
Labour Commissioner Raju Gawas too informed that the ESI hospital will reopen for the beneficiaries from July 1.
Thousands of ESI beneficiaries were left in the cold after the hospital was requisitioned for pandemic duty in March last year. Unlike other states, where the ESI beneficiaries were provided alternate facilities in designated private hospitals, in Goa such was not the case.
“After the ESI hospital was taken over for Covid duty, workers, who are subscribers of the ESI scheme were left in the cold. They could walk tall in other government hospitals as a matter of right since they all contributed to the ESI scheme,” remarked a labour official.
ESI dispensaries reopen across State
MARGAO: Most of the 13 ESI dispensaries across the State reopened on Tuesday, a day after the government decided to relieve the doctors and para-medical staff from Covid work.
Labour commissioner Raju Gawas said around two to three dispensaries will reopen no sooner the Goa Medical College relieveS the remaining staff, who are on Covid duty.
The ESI dispensaries housed at the ESI hospital complex have started operations from Monday, with staffers saying over 50 persons turned up to avail facilities on Tuesday.
The Government had on June 26 decided to shut down all the 13 ESI dispensaries spread across the state and had requisitioned the doctors and staff for deployment in government hospitals in view of the huge spike in Covid cases.
