More than 36 lakh beneficiaries of the Employees' State Insurance (ESI) scheme in Bangalore can soon avail themselves of advanced cardiology facilities at the ESIC Model Hospital in Rajajinagar.
To provide overall super-speciality services to patients, the 500-bed ESIC Model Hospital has tied up with the State-run Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research.
A memorandum of understanding in this regard was signed recently, Hospital Medical Superintendent A.K. Khokhar said.
Speaking at the inauguration of ESIC Nursescon 2011 organised to mark Rajajinagar ESIC Model Hospital's golden jubilee celebrations here on Sunday, Dr. Khokhar said while ESIC would provide space and infrastructure for the cardiology centre, Jayadeva Hospital authorities would run it with their doctors and paramedical staff.
“Civil works for the Rs. 10-crore facility are progressing and the centre should be ready for use by February. Apart from ESI beneficiaries from the city, all ESI card-holders from across the country can avail themselves of this facility,” he said.
Dialysis unit
The hospital would also start a dialysis unit from March. “So far we were referring our patients for dialysis to other hospitals and it was difficult especially during surgeries as the golden hour was lost,” Dr Khokhar said.
He said this would be run on public-private-partnership model. “We will soon invite tenders for this project,” he said.
“Our hospital not only provides general specialities but also full-time super-speciality services in burns and plastic surgery and urology. Part-time super-specialists have been appointed to provide services in cardiology, oncology, neurology, and gastroenterology. We will soon have an endocrinologist too,” he said.
“Impressed by our services, officials from Southern Railways are keen to adopt our system of functioning in railway hospitals. The DG (Railways) along with their Chief of Medical Staff visited our hospital recently to see our functioning,” Dr Khokhar said.
Director of ESIS Medical Services Rahimunnissa urged the nurses to put in more efforts and serve the patients. Admitting that there was a severe shortage of nurses in ESI hospitals, Dr. Rahimunnisa said efforts were being made to recruit more paramedical staff.
