Ahmedabad, June 5 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of multiple development projects worth around Rs 18,800 crore in Surat, marking one of the largest infrastructure investment programmes undertaken in the city in recent years.

The projects included a 220-bedded Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Hospital in Surat, strengthening Gujarat’s ESI healthcare system and also highlighting government’s sustained efforts in ensuring quality healthcare for the workforce in unorganised sectors.

The newly inaugurated 220-bedded ESIC Hospital, spreading over 8.6 acre campus, will serve as a lifeline for nearly 3.2 lakh insured persons and around 12.16 lakh beneficiaries of the region.

According to the hospital administration, the facility was originally a 100-bed unit but has now been upgraded into a 220-bed multi-specialty and referral hospital equipped with modern amenities. A medical college facility has also been added to the complex.

Vikalp Shastri, Medical Superintendent of the ESIC hospital, said that the new hospital will enable workers from the construction and associated sectors as well as their families to benefit from comprehensive healthcare services.

Bindi Bhatiyani, the Dean of ESIC hospital, noted that the medical institution built with focus on welfare of workers and their families will provide host of services and medicines to the patients, free of cost.

“Expensive medical procedures—ranging from cataract surgeries to complex surgeries and implantations will be performed free of charge,” the ESIC hospital Dean told.

She also said that special provisions have been made for the children of workers to gain admission to the ESIC Medical College, thereby offering them better opportunities for medical education.

According to the hospital management, OPD and emergency services will be launched in the initial phase and subsequently, services like General Medicine, General Surgery, Orthopaedics, Pediatrics, Gynaecology and Obstetrics, ENT, and Ophthalmology will get operational in phase.

The hospital has been equipped with state-of-the-art technology and will soon see the launch of advanced medical facilities like CT scans, MRI, advanced ultrasound, ICU services. Secondary and tertiary care will also be made available.

The hospital management says that the hospital will play a vital role not only in healthcare services but also in medical education, and will emerge as a trusted healthcare centre for working-class families in the future.

–IANS

mr/khz