Restart Model ESIC Hospital by Jan 2026: HC

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court has directed the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) to restart the Model ESIC Hospital in Andheri by January 31, 2026.

The division bench of justices Alok Aradhe and Makarand Karnik passed the order on Tuesday on a public interest litigation (PIL) claiming the Model ESIC Hospital at Andheri was kept inoperative illegally after it closed was down due to a massive fire seven years ago.

The bench passed the order after advocate Shailesh Pathak for the ESIC informed the court that at the special meeting of the ESIC standing committee held on January 23, 2025, it was decided to entrust reconstruction of the hospital to National Building Construction Company. The company had agreed to complete the construction work and handover building to the ESIC by August 15, 2026, but efforts would be made to restart the model hospital from January 31, 2026, Pathak told the court.

The bench directed the ESIC to scrupulously adhere to the timeline and restart the hospital within the stipulated time.

The PIL was filed by city resident Ramesh Sharma, who claimed that the model hospital set up in 2008 was closed after a fire in 2018 and was kept deliberately inoperative thereafter.

The PIL, filed through advocates Rahul Kamerkar and Aparajita R Jha, claimed the reconstruction of the multi-specialty hospital going on at a very slow pace. One of the three hospitals run by the ESIC in the city, it used to offer multiple services including super specialty services but was now lying shut with machinery worth at least ₹50 crore lying idle.

The PIL noted that the hospital had been kept shut despite the state public health minister writing to the department of labour for its reopening during the pandemic. The ESIC had also stated in a letter to the All India ESIC (Medical) Employees Federation that the hospital would be reopened within a few months, but it was not reopened even after the passage of many months, the PIL said. Instead, the ESIC had conferred model hospital status on a hospital in Kandivali, it added.