A plot to shove the Rs 5,000 crore Andheri labor hospital down Adani’s throat : Rajesh Sharma

If the hospital is not started within a month, we will go on a strong agitation.

Don’t fill Adani’s house by playing with the health of 45 lakh workers

Labor Hospital in Andheri has been closed for the last four years under the name of renovation. So far Rs 250 crore has been given for repairs and Rs 50 crore for purchase of medical supplies and ESI corporation does not seem willing to reopen the hospital.

Andheri’s Kamgar Hospital is not being started because there is a conspiracy to steal the nearly 12 acres of land worth Rs 5000 crore by the industrialist Adani.

By making such a serious allegation, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee General Secretary Rajesh Sharma has warned that if the government does not start this hospital within a month, we will launch a strong agitation.

Speaking at a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan, Rajesh Sharma said that this labor hospital was established in Andheri in 1977 and till 2008 this hospital was running under the auspices of the state government.

Subsequently, the hospital was acquired by ESI Corporation on 14 April 2008. The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation modernized this hospital into a 500-bed hospital and also started a medical college.

A fire accident took place in this hospital on 17th December 2018 and unfortunately 13 people died and 150 people were injured. Before the accident, OPD, IPD (350 beds), ICU and super specialty facilities were open 24 hours a day.

The hospital is equipped with all the latest facilities including Pathology, Radiology, X-ray, CT-MRI, Operation Theat. 1800 to 2000 patients visit the OPD department daily, blood bank facility is also available. Workers from many cities in Maharashtra were coming to Andheri hospital for treatment. Major surgeries were also done free of charge.

Labor Insurance Scheme was launched on 24th February 1952 by the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to protect the interests of the workers and provide them with proper facilities.

As of today, 3.5 crore workers across the country are members of the Workers Insurance Corporation while 45 lakh workers in Maharashtra are members. Labor hospitals were also set up all over the country for the purpose of providing better health facilities to the workers.

Kamgar Hospital in Andheri was one of the important and well-equipped hospitals, but since this hospital has been closed for the last four years, the workers have to go to Kandivali Hospital for treatment.

There is great dissatisfaction among the workers as the hospital is not being opened. 250 doctors and 500 medical staff of the hospital were classified elsewhere. By closing the labor hospital in Andheri and playing with the health of lakhs of workers, this place is being shoved down the throat of the industrialist.

We are constantly following up this issue with the Union Ministry of Labor but we are not getting any satisfactory reply. Rajesh Sharma said that along with the central government, the Maharashtra government should also pay attention to the matter and clarify the facts and restart the Kamgar Hospital at the same place.