The Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) Hospital, located in Ashok Nagar, Belagavi, will be permanently closed before June 15, following a directive from the state’s Labour Department. The hospital’s operations will be temporarily shifted to the ESI Dispensary in Yamnapur.
All outpatient services, including check-ups, medication distribution, and issuance of referral letters, will now be handled at the Yamnapur clinic. Lab facilities will also be available there.
The decision follows long-standing concerns over the structural safety of the Ashoknagar hospital building. A report submitted three years ago had declared the building unsafe, recommending its closure. After years of deliberation, the move has now been confirmed.
The Ashoknagar facility is expected to be demolished, making way for a new, modern ESI hospital. A tender was floated for construction about six months ago, but it was later cancelled. A fresh tender is expected to be issued, although timelines for the new hospital project remain unclear.
In the meantime, to minimize inconvenience to ESI beneficiaries, referral letters for treatment at private hospitals under the ESI scheme will be issued from five city clinics—Channamma Circle, Udyambagh, Piranwadi, Shahapur, and Yamnapur—starting June 16.
The issue of relocating the ESI Hospital has been under discussion for nearly four years, and the Yamnapur dispensary itself was shifted just six months ago to make space for this transition. While the relocation is seen as necessary, there is concern among industrial workers about the temporary disruption in services until the new hospital is constructed.