Ludhiana set to get its first ESIC-run medical college
Ludhiana is set to get its first government medical college as the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has said it will open the institution here, a press release from the body said.
In a meeting earlier this month, the corporation decided to open ten new medical colleges across the country, including one in Ludhiana, according to ESIC regional director Rakesh Kumar.
Ludhiana was selected as it has the largest concentration of industry in the state. ESIC caters to the insured industrial workers who earn below ₹21,000 per month.
This will be the first government tertiary care health facility in the district. There are around 17 lakh ESIC beneficiaries across the district.
The college will be built on 25 acres and ESIC is working with the district administration to acquire suitable land. On Wednesday, an ESIC delegation met additional deputy commissioner Amarjeet Bains regarding the land.
After discussions with ESIC officials, ADC Bains told the delegation that the administration will shortly select a plot.
The college is planned to start by next academic year from the ESIC’s 300-bedded hospital near Bharat Nagar Chowk.
However, as the new building comes up, the college will have a separate 500-bedded hospital, the officials said.
“We plan to start college next academic year from our hospital. And as we get the land and the building comes up, we will build a separate hospital,” said Rakesh Kumar.
He added that the 300-bedded hospital will also be upgraded to a 500-bedded facility.
The ESIC already runs seven hospitals in the state: Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Phagwara, Mandi Gobindgarh and Mohali. It is now working to build new hospitals in Dera Bassi, Rajpura, Malerkotla, Bathinda and Moga.
