Centre to upgrade Mulund’s ESIS Hospital, house new medical college

The proposal was approved in a meeting with Bhupender Yadav, union environment, forest and climate change minister and Devendra Fadnavis, the deputy chief minister on Monday.

Mumbai: The 61-year-old ESIS Hospital in Mulund is slated to be upgraded and house a new medical college. This will be the city’s sixth medical college. The hospital building and grounds, currently under the state government, will be transferred to the Centre, which will then reconstruct the building. The details of the handover are yet to be decided.

The hospital has a sanctioned strength of 400 beds, of which 200 are in use and 50 to 60 of them are occupied daily. 600 medical posts are present, of which 304 are occupied and 195 are vacant. While facilities for sonography, X-rays and an operation theatre are present, MRI and CT scan machines are not present. (HT PHOTO)

The proposal was approved in a meeting with Bhupender Yadav, union environment, forest and climate change minister and Devendra Fadnavis, the deputy chief minister on Monday.

“The hospital building is currently not in good condition as it was built in 1962. The scenario is also quite different as the hospital is for industrial workers which are present in fewer numbers in Mumbai today,” said Dr Sanjay Dhawale, a medical officer and former director (medical) of the ESI scheme.

The hospital has a sanctioned strength of 400 beds, of which 200 are in use and 50 to 60 of them are occupied daily. 600 medical posts are present, of which 304 are occupied and 195 are vacant. While facilities for sonography, X-rays and an operation theatre are present, MRI and CT scan machines are not present.

Dhawale said that while the demand for beds for the hospital is not much, the medical college will need 500 beds.

The upgradation of other ESI hospitals in Mumbai is also underway. According to Dhawale, the reconstruction of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Parel, is complete, and 100 beds have been in use over the last two months. The hospital is run collectively by the Central government, state government and millowners’ association.

The ESIC hospital in Andheri, which was burnt to ashes in 2018, is being renovated. The state government-run ESIS hospital in Kandivali is currently accommodating the hospital’s doctors, nurses, and staff. Its sanctioned strength is 300, but only 85 beds are currently in use due to reduced demand.