BJP MP G. V. L. Narasimha Rao met the Union Labour Minister Bhupendra Yadav in New Delhi on October 1 and requested him to ensure speedy construction of seven ESI hospitals sanctioned for Andhra Pradesh (AP).
The new hospitals are coming up at Atchutapuram (Visakhapatnam district), Guntur, Kakinada, Penukonda (Anantapur), Sri City (Chittoor) Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram with an aggregate bed strength of 930. At present, there are four ESI hospitals functioning at Malkapuram (Visakhapatnam), Rajahmundry, Tirupati and Vijayawada with a total 240 beds.
Mr. Narasimha Rao told the Union Minister that the ESI hospital sanctioned for Guntur district should be established at Narsaraopet or in one of the other towns in Palnadu to meet the requirements of the backward region.
According to a press release by the MP, Union Minister of State for Labour, Rameswar Teli has recently said in the Rajya Sabha that the ESI hospital in Vizianagaram was estimated to cost ₹73.60 crore. The State government had initially allotted five acres of land but later proposed to allot an alternate land, which is awaited.
The construction of the ESI hospital at Kakinada was estimated to cost ₹102.77 crore and the work had been sanctioned. The ESI hospitals in Guntur, Penukonda, Sri City and Atchutapuram are in land allotment stage and the hospital work in Visakhapatnam was assigned and concept plan approved.
