By Team Mangalorean
Photographs: Rajesh Shetty

• Factory employers told to create awareness on health

MANGALORE, August 17, 2008: Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Oscar Fernandes has appealed to the employers of factories and industrial establishments in Dakshina Kannada district to take steps to educate their employees on healthy practices and thereby keep away from HIV infection and AIDS disease.

Speaking after inaugurating the "Project Sankalp" here on Sunday, Mr. Fernandes said this is a pilot project, launched by Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) in collaboration with Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust, to prevent fresh HIV positive cases among members of the ESIC in the State through awareness camps.

Stating that facilities at the ESI hospitals would be used to achieve the objectives of the project, the Union Minister said the financial capital of India - Mumbai - has become the gateway for "welcoming” the HIV and AIDS. Several people from the district have migrated to Mumbai seeking jobs and therefore two cities have a special connection. Many people who infected with dreaded HIV/AIDS spread to others in the district while they return to native places, he said.

The project was also aimed at taking the reproductive and child health (RCH) services to the doorsteps of insured employees and their family members, he said.

Minister for Labour B.N. Bache Gowda spoke about the steps to be taken to prevent the spread of HIV among workers. He called upon the Centre to grant more funds to the State for implementing various health programs under ESIC schemes.

The Deputy Director, Directorate of E.S.I.S. Medical Services, Karnataka, Gangadhara Swamy said the ESI hospital of Mangalore would get a mobile unit to visit factories and other places where many ESI beneficiaries reside. The unit would have a male and a female counselor and a lab technician. The counselors would give suggestions to workers on how to protect themselves from getting affected by HIV/AIDS and other diseases, he said.

Mangalore City MLAs Yogish Bhat (BJP), U. T. Khader (Congress) and Moodabidri MLA Abhayachandra Jain (Congress) participated in the event.

All ESIC hospitals set to get modern facilities

MANGALORE: The Central Government-owned Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has proposed to network all its 144 hospitals, hospital annexes, dispensaries, panel clinics in the country by end of 2010.

Prabhat C. Chaturvedi, Director-General, ESIC, told reporters here on Sunday that once the networking process was completed, the corporation would hold an annual medical camp for its beneficiaries and about four crore beneficiaries would benefit in the country.

ESIC would modernize and upgrade all hospitals in the country. In the first phase, 21 hospitals will be modernized with modern medical equipment for diagnosis and treatment. They will be equipped with dialysis machines, CT and MRI scanners, he told reporters on the sidelines of the "Project Sankalp” launched for strengthening the ESIC interventions in preventing spread of AIDS. The programme aimed at creating awareness about AIDS disease in the district.

The corporation has proposed to disburse unique identity cards to all its beneficiaries to avail medical treatment in ESI hospital across the country.

The identity cards will have a number for each beneficiary. In the case of transfer of officials to other places, they need not worry about relevance of the documents in the new place of employment to avail treatment. The card obtained at earlier place of employment is valid, he said.

ESIC has planned to open 11 medical colleges and post graduate centers in its hospitals to overcome the shortage of doctors, specialists and paramedical staff. The staff shortage has affected the quality of service delivery in all ESIC hospitals. Mr Chaturvedi said the Centre has sanctioned 440 post-graduation seats in those hospitals all courses would commence from the next academic year (2009-10.

ESIC has also decided to modernize and upgrade its Rajajinagar Hospital of Bangalore at an estimated cost of Rs. 160 crore. It has proposed to set up a medical college there to offer MBBS course from the next academic year.

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