Reported by Chinmaya Dehury / Edited by Swetaparna Mohanty

Bhubaneswar, Nov 19:

hospital-bhubaneswar2

The Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), under the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment, has decided to set up two 100 bedded hospitals in Duburi and Angul with an investment of about Rs 140 crore while it is all set to lay the foundation stone for the proposed 500-bedded medical college and hospital at Jagannathprasad on the outskirts of city in January 2014.

The ESIC, which works for health insurance and other benefits of the workers community, has decided to start the construction work for the medical college at the earliest. The  construction of the compound wall has already been  completed around the 25-acre plot allotted by the state government near the Institute of Mathematics.

“We have already spent Rs 4.6 crore in getting license from MCI and environment clearances for the medical college. The foundation stone will be laid in January, 2014  and plan full-fledged operation from the 2017 academic year,” said minister of state, Labour and ESI K Suresh at a press conference here.

The medical college and hospital will be set up with an investment of Rs 700-800 crore with an intake capacity of 100 for MBBS aspirants. It has recently received approval from the Central government.

The Central government has also decided to take over the existing ESI hospital at Bhubaneswar to make it a super specialty hospital. The Centre has sanctioned Rs 66 crore for renovation and repair of the hospital, informed the Minister.

Suresh informed that the 50 bedded Rourkela hospital, the only hospital in the state directly managed by the ESI, will be upgraded to 100 bedded capacity and Rs 100 crore will be spent to make it a hi-tech hospital.

With insured persons facing trouble to communicate with the regional office located at Bhubaneswar, the Labour and ESI Ministry has decided to set up a sub-regional office at Rourkela with western Odisha as its area of jurisdiction.

The Centre has also decided to extend the coverage of ESI scheme to Khuntuni in Cuttack district and Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district.

Presently, ESIC has six hospitals, 45 dispensaries while it has tied up with nine super specialty private hospitals to provide health coverage to the insured workers.