The North News
Kala Amb, May 31
In a bid to expand healthcare access for labour force, Union Minister for Labour, Employment, and Youth Affairs Dr Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday inaugurated a newly built Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) hospital in Kala Amb, Himachal Pradesh. The 30-bedded facility, constructed at a cost of ₹100 crore, is designed to be upgraded to a 100-bed hospital in future, and is expected to serve more than one lakh beneficiaries across Sirmaur and surrounding districts.
The new ESIC hospital includes departments such as general medicine, surgery, gynaecology, orthopaedics, ophthalmology, and dental care, alongside facilities like a modular operation theatre, central sterile supply, and medical gas pipeline systems. It will provide both outpatient and inpatient services to workers insured under the ESI scheme. Calling the hospital “a shrine that honours our Shram Shakti,” Mandaviya said the facility symbolised the government’s recognition of workers as the true strength of the nation. In a gesture aimed at affirming that ethos, the minister personally felicitated the construction workers who helped build the hospital.
He also announced that all ESIC hospitals with over 200 beds will soon house medical colleges, with 40% of seats reserved for the children of insured persons — a move intended to offer upward mobility through education. “This is not just healthcare reform. This is about giving dignity and opportunity to our working class,” Mandaviya said.
Citing a recent case in which ₹2 crore worth of life-saving drugs were sanctioned for the child of an insured worker, Mandaviya stressed the government’s stance that poverty should never come in the way of urgent medical treatment. “Whether the medicine costs ₹1 or ₹1 crore, ESIC will ensure treatment for every worker. Every life matters,” he said.
Mandaviya lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the first national leader to “truly worship and respect the labour force of India,” and credited the PM for the continued expansion of ESIC facilities. He added that recruitment processes to fill vacancies in all ESIC hospitals would be undertaken in mission mode to ensure timely and uninterrupted care. The new hospital is seen as part of a broader push by the Modi government to enhance public health infrastructure, especially for India’s workforce, often left behind in the private healthcare boom.
