DW BUREAU / Ludhiana The Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has received proposal from Punjab Government to set up ESI hospitals at 6 locations, said the Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Rameshwar Teli, in reply to a question regarding ESIC Hospitals in Punjab asked by Sanjeev Arora, MP (Rajya Sabha) from Ludhiana in Rajya Sabha recently. Arora had asked whether government is proposing to setup more ESIC hospitals in the State of Punjab, if so, the details thereof. Giving this information here today, Arora said the Union Minister further stated that proposal has been received from Punjab Government to set up ESI hospitals at Sector-66 Sahibzada Ajit Singh (SAS) Nagar in District SAS Nagar, Lalru in District SAS Nagar, Rajpura in District Patiala, Malerkotla in District Malerkotla, Doraha in District Ludhiana and Bathinda in District Bathinda. The Minister further stated that setting up of ESI hospital is an ongoing process and is based on the number of Insured Persons (IPs) in an area in accordance with the norms of the Employees' State Insurance Corporation. Replying to another question asked by Arora about the details of the total number of ESIC beds vis-a-vis workers, State-wise, the Minister provided state wise details (See the table) of total number of beds at hospitals run by the ESIC. "After a thorough analysis of the data provided by the Union Minister, it has been observed that on All India-level 12,705 beds are sanctioned against 2,94,97,640 insured persons. Thus, there are 2,322 ESI insured workers per bed across the country", said Arora. Arora added as per the available data, 300 beds are sanctioned against 12,16,430 insured persons in Punjab, which indicates that there are 4,055 insured workers per bed. He said therefore, there is a dire need to double the bedding capacity of ESIC Hospitals in Punjab with immediate effect to improve the present scenario. He added 23 states are in better position compared to Punjab. "Now, the present state government under the leadership of Hon'ble chief minister Shri Bhagwant Mann is seriously taking up the matter with the Centre to set up new ESIC hospitals in the state," Arora said, hoping that the situation will improve once the proposal gets a practical shape. (editor@dailyworld.in)