Bhubaneswar: Close to two decades since it was first proposed, a state-of-the-art ESI Medical College and Hospital is finally set to become a reality in Odisha. The labour and ESI department has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) to set up the medical college and hospital at Andharua in Bhubaneswar.To facilitate the immediate start of the project, the state govt has decided to hand over the existing ESI Hospital at Chandrasekharpur in the city to the ESIC, where the medical college will initially begin operations. Besides, ESIC officials informed that the existing 100-bed ESI hospital is being upgraded to a 220-bed facility to provide comprehensive healthcare services, including dialysis and super-speciality treatment, to ESIC beneficiaries across the state. Officials of the labour department said on Tuesday that the new medical college and hospital are expected to strengthen healthcare services and expand medical education opportunities for general students as well as wards of ESI beneficiaries. They added that the institution will not only train future doctors but also serve as a referral and tertiary care centre for patients from across Odisha. Additional secretary of the labour department Rajesh Kumar Agarwala signed the agreement on behalf of the Odisha govt with the ESI Scheme director Madhumita Nayak in the presence of additional chief secretary of the labour department Chitra Arumugam. The ESI Medical College and Hospital has been a long-pending demand in Odisha. In 2008, the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation decided to introduce undergraduate and postgraduate medical teaching programmes and establish a medical college in every state. Sources said the Odisha govt then decided to provide 25 acres to ESIC for the project on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. Although several local organisations in Rourkela demanded that the facility be set up in the steel city, Bhubaneswar was eventually proposed on the recommendation of the state govt.
