SIALKOT, July 15: The Punjab Employees and Social Security Institution (PESSI) could not provide advanced medical facilities to industrial workers and their dependants here, resulting in a lot of problems for labour community.

Talking to newsmen here on Saturday, SCCI’s Labour Laws Committee vice-chairman Assad Bajwa said only 13 doctors, including an eye specialist and two woman medical officers, were providing health facilities to more than 25,000 secured industrial workers of Sialkot and Narowal districts and their 190,000 dependants.

He said only one social security directorate, a small hospital, seven medical centres, two emergency centres and two panel hospitals for specific diseases were working here.

Mr Bajwa said procedure for treatment was very complicated and time consuming as workers had to go to Pasrur to get referral for social security institutions of Gujranwala, Sialkot and Lahore. He said there was only one outlet for ultrasound (chest) for workers.

He said the Sialkot district had a Rs6.15 million health budget for 2005-06, of which Rs2.5 million had been allocated for medication of all 25,000 workers and their dependants under the social security treatment programme which was Rs13.15 per head per year. He said PESSI had also earmarked Rs1.5 million for hospitalisation which was Rs7.9 per head per year.

He said delivery cases were handled at panel hospitals, but treatment facilities were not available for newly-born babies and workers’ parents. There were no emergency and cardiac treatment facilities at these PESSI controlled panel hospitals.

He said factory owners in Sialkot had been arranging hepatitis vaccination for all their secured workers, but they had not yet announced treatment for hepatitis virus carrying workers and their dependants. He said workers had to wait for a long period for reimbursement.

Assad Bajwa recommended that PESSI should establish panel hospitals at tehsil Level, covering all diseases as per ESSI Rules, besides establishing 10 more dispensaries.

When contacted, PESSI commissioner Syed Tahir Raza Naqvi said all problems would be resolved soon. He said PESSI had decided to hire specialist doctors on contract basis for providing better health facilities to Sialkot’s workers.