ESIC hospital in Andheri resumes inpatient services, petitioner disputes claim

MUMBAI: The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) on Tuesday told the Bombay High Court that inpatient services at its Model Hospital in Andheri had resumed with 50 operational beds, nearly eight years after the facility was shut following a major fire

MUMBAI: The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) on Tuesday told the Bombay High Court that inpatient services at its Model Hospital in Andheri had resumed with 50 operational beds, nearly eight years after the facility was shut following a major fire.

The ESIC Model Hospital in Andheri provides medical treatment to insured workers and their dependants under the Employees’ State Insurance scheme, including specialised and inpatient care.

However, the petitioner disputed the claim, telling the court that only 25 beds each for men and women were currently available and that the hospital lacked basic medical infrastructure, including operation theatres, labour rooms and essential equipment.

A division bench of Chief Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Advait Sethna was hearing a contempt petition filed by deputy mayor Rajesh Sharma, who alleged that ESIC and the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (PGIMSR) had wilfully disobeyed an April 2025 court order directing them to restart the hospital by January 31, 2026.

In its report submitted to the court, ESIC said inpatient services had been restored on September 25 after construction and renovation work on the first and second floors of the D Block of the OPD building was completed. The 50-bed facility currently covers general medicine and surgery, maternal and child healthcare admissions and critical care, with routine elective surgeries also scheduled to resume.

ESIC said the inpatient capacity would be increased to 100 beds by October 2026. It added that clinical departments, nursing units, laboratories and support services had been placed on alert, with updated duty rosters to handle admissions and provide secondary and tertiary care to beneficiaries.

Sharma, however, said the hospital was originally intended to have 260 beds and alleged that the facilities currently claimed by ESIC did not reflect the situation on the ground. His lawyers, Rahul Kamerkar and Aparajita R Jha, said they would file an affidavit detailing the “ground reality” before the court by October 15.

Sharma has sought civil imprisonment of the ESIC director general for six months and a ₹2,000 fine, alleging wilful disobedience of the court’s order.

The April 16, 2025 order, passed by a division bench of Justices Alok Aradhe and Makarand Karnik, had directed ESIC to restart the hospital by January 31, 2026. The order followed a PIL challenging the prolonged closure of the hospital after the fire.

The court had in August expressed strong displeasure over the delay in complying with its directive, observing that it was the “right time to send the authorities to jail for contempt of court”.