Non-insured persons can now also avail treatment in ESI hospitals in the country free of cost in cases of emergency, the government said on Thursday.

"Persons not insured under the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) scheme can now also get treatment in ESI hospitals in emergent conditions," labour and employment minister Mallikarjun Kharge said, adding he has directed the director general of ESIC in this regard.

Inaugurating a state-of-the-art ESI hospital here, he said non-insured persons can avail treatment free of cost and the doctor after conducting a thorough examination on him can refer the patient to another hospital after he is out of danger.

Kharge said the new hospital will cater to more than three lakh industrial workers here and many more insured persons.

The ESIC Hospital here has come up on a five acre plot at an estimated cost of Rs 100 crore. It is a fully air conditioned multi-speciality hospital with 100-bed capacity and will be upgraded to 200 beds in the near future.

The minister said it is a multi-speciality hospital which will provide indoor, outdoor, emergency and diagnostic services to the ESI beneficiaries in the state.

Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, minister of state for labour and employment Harish Rawat and others attended the inauguration function.

Kharge announced that ESIC was implementing an IT roll out plan called project panchdeep with WIPRO for comprehensive IT enablement in all its establishments.

Nearly 2,000 locations in all parts of the country have been networked and smart cards are being issued to all the insured persons and their families so that they can avail services anywhere in the country, he said.

He said ESI Corporation was in the process of setting up 18 Medical Colleges and 12 Post Graduate Medical Science and Research Centres all over the country.

Bhupinder Singh Hooda assured to consider relaxation in Floor Area Ratio (FAR) for expansion of this ESIC hospital in Gurgaon

Rawat informed that this was tghe 27th ESI hospital in the country and thatthe ESIC was providing healthcare facilities to more than five crore people in the country.