K Suresh, Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment, has announced the setting up of a 100-seater ESIC Medical College on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. The foundation stone for the college will be laid in January 2014. It will become functional in 2017.
The proposed Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Medical College will have 500 beds. Around Rs 800 crore will be spent in building the facility. In addition, the ESIC will upgrade the medical facility in Rourkela at an investment of Rs 100 crore. The hospital will be upgraded from 50-bed to a 100-bed one.
The ESIC will also build two more 100-bed hospitals, one each in Angul and Duburi, with a total investment of around Rs 140 crores. In addition, the ESI coverage will be extended to Khuntuni in Cuttack district, Joda in Keonjhar and Lanjigarh in Kalahadi district. A Sub-Regional office will be set up in Rourkela apart from the regional office in Bhubaneswar.
The ESIC scheme in Odisha currently covers 60 centres in 20 district with 13,07,600 beneficiaries. Around 329,400 people have been insured so far.
