Minister lays foundation stone for ESIC hospital in Odisha

Union minister for Labour and Employment Oscar Fernandes today laid the foundation stone for an Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Medical College and Hospital here.
"The proposed ESIC medical college and hospital will meet the requirement of employees working in different industries. We want that all employees undergo a health check up at least once in a year," Fernandes said.
The proposed medical college and hospital would come up over 25 acres of land near the Khandagiri Hills here at an investment of Rs 701 crore.
"The hospital will have 500 beds while the medical college will have 100 MBBS seats in the first phase as per the guidelines of the Medical Council of India (MCI)," Odisha's labour minister Bijayshree Routray said.

Responding to a request for a second ESI medical college in view of the rapid industrialisation in the state, the Union Minister said he would consider the demand favourably if the number of insured persons in the state warranted setting up of a second institute.
Union minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Srikant Jena and Bhubaneswar MP Prasanna Patsani were also present on the occasion.
Fernandes laid the foundation stone of the ESIC's medical college and hospital barely four days after Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Gulam Nabi Azad inaugurated the AIIMS-Bhubaneswar here.