A new medical college and hospital to be set up by the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) will be operational by 2017, said K Suresh, Union minister of state for labour and employment.
"The foundation stone for the ESIC medical college on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar will be laid in January and the full-fledged medical college will start functioning in the academic year of 2017," Suresh said after reviewing the various projects implemented by the ministry in Odisha.
With an investment of around Rs 800 crore, the proposed medical college will be a 500-bed hospital with 100 MBBS seats.
Suresh said, the project was delayed due to non-availability of land.
So far, the corporation has invested around Rs 4.78 crore to carry out preliminary work of the hospital, which will come up over 25 acres of land in the outskirts of the city.
Similarly, ESIC has decided to upgrade its other medical facility in Odisha, a hospital at Rourkela, from 50-bed to a 100-bed one with an investment of around Rs 100 crore.
"We are considering to take over the Bhubaneswar ESIC hospital on the request of the state government. ESIC has sanctioned Rs 66 crore for renovation and repairing of the existing building of the hospital," he added.
The corporation will also construct two more 100-bed hospitals, one each in Angul and Duburi, with a total investment of around Rs 140 crores.
The minister said, the ESI coverage will be extended to Khuntuni in Cuttack district, Joda in Keonjhar and Lanjigarh in Kalahadi district.
ESIC scheme in the state is implemented in sixty centres in 20 districts. There are 329, 400 insured persons and 1,3 07, 600 beneficiaries.
For providing services to the people of western Odisha, the ESIC has decided to open a sub-regional office in Rourkela besides its regional office in Bhubaneswar, he added.
