SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Oct 20: Fertilizer Corporation of India Limited (FCIL), a PSU unit of the Government of India would revive its 205-bed Sindri hospital after 20 years.
In this regard, FCIL officer on special duty SS Shekhawat has invited a tender to lease out the hospital premises along with the hospital building and nurses hostel on a 30-year lease term for running the centre.
FCIL had a 205-bed hospital building along with a nurse hostel housed on 11 acres of land in Sindri township. In 2002 when the FCI plant shut down, the management closed the hospital also.
Under the terms and conditions of the FCIL management, the hospital operator would have to provide OPD services free of cost and a 50% rebate to ex-FCIL employees and their dependents in treatment and diagnostic testing.
Sindri township has a population of 40,000 to 45,000. After the closure of the FCIL Hospital in 2002, residents were compelled to go either 6 km away to Baliapur CHC or 8 km away to Chasnala CHC even for first aid due to the lack of a public health centre.
In 2021 the then Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Dhanbad Uma Shankar Singh had initiated a step for the revival of the FCI Sindri Hospital at the request of the All India FCI VSS Employees’ Association during the Covid period.
The DC proposed to provide doctors and nursing staff in the hospital from the District Mineral Fund Trust (DMFT). Even the managing director of Hindustan Urvarak Rasayan Limited (HURL) AK Gupta agreed to give funds to the hospital. However, the FCIL management in Delhi refused to give the building to a private party to run the hospital.
FCIL wanted the Jharkhand government to run the hospital. All India FCI VSS Employees Association president Sewa Singh along with Jharkhand Industry and Trade Association (JITA) general secretary Amitesh Sahay approached the Jharkhand government through DC Uma Shankar Singh. They even tried to get the appointment of Chief Minister Hemant Soren for the revival of the FCI Sindri Hospital but were unable to get it.
The Jharkhand government did not take an interest in the revival of the hospital. Later on, DC Uma Shankar Singh was also transferred from Dhanbad and the proposal got dumped in a bunker.
“We did not stop our attempt and repeatedly sent a memorandum to the FCIL officials and the Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizer for the revival of the hospital in the interest of the Sindri people. That attempt worked today,” said Sewa Singh.
