Pranab to lay foundation-stone for ESIC hospital
New Delhi, May 27, DHNS:

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will lay the foundation stone for a multi-specialty hospital and a medical college of the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) at Gulbarga on May 29.
The state-of-the-art healthcare complex, comprising medical, dental and nursing colleges and the 500-bed ESIC hospital, will be built at a cost of Rs 790 crore. The Union Ministry of Labour is funding the project, including the construction as well as running the institution after the completion of the work.

The project, first of its kind by the ministry in North Karnataka, aims to provide better healthcare facility to the ESIC beneficiaries coming under the jurisdiction of Gulbarga division, Union Minister for Labour and Employment Mallikarjun Kharge told Deccan Herald.

100 MBBS seats

The medical college will have 100 MBBS seats, while the dental and the nursing colleges will have 50 and 40 seats respectively. Of the total seats in all the three colleges — MBBS, BDS and Nursing — 40 per cent seats will be reserved for state students.

Apart from this, there will be 10 per cent quota each for the children of ESIC beneficiaries and contributors. The intake for students for all the three colleges will be made on the basis of all India competitive examinations. The hospital will have 12 types of ultra modern wards and there will be a super specialty treatment for major health problems. There will be 12 operation theatres, including two emergency and two maternity operation theatres.

The project, which is coming up on 30.4 acres of land, will be constructed on green building concept and it will have hostel facilities for students, accommodations for doctors and other staff, and guest houses for patients and their relatives. The construction is expected to complete in 24 months.




Union Labour and Employment Minister Mallikarjun Kharge has said that his ministry will establish a Skill Development Centre (SDC) in Gulbarga if the State government provided 20 acres of land.
Making this announcement while presiding over the function to mark the foundation stone laying for the Medical Education Complex of Employees State Insurance Corporation here on Saturday, Kharge said the Centre will go a long way in training the youth in acquiring necessary skills in various trades, avocations and fields.

Medical Education Minister Ramachandra Gowda who spoke on behalf of the CM, in latter’s absence, made a spot announcement that the State will shortly give 20 acres of land in Gulbarga for the proposed SDC.

Ambitious plan
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee who laid the foundation stone said the UPA government had drawn up an ambitious plan of equipping 50 crore youth with necessary skills by 2022 and the scheme has already been started.

Kharge said in the last one year he has kept his words of initiating several schemes for Karnataka, including the ESIC super speciality hospital, medical PG centre, ESIC medical college all in Bangalore, besides laying foundation stone for the Rs 790 crore ESIC Medical Education Complex in Gulbarga.

A Regional Provident Fund Commissioner office has already been opened in Gulbarga and the ESIC Sub-Regional Office will also come up shortly in Gulbarga, he said.
DH News Service


The ambitious multi-specialty hospital and a medical college of the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) of the Central government is all set to come up in the sprawling campus of the Gulbarga University here.

Estimated to cost Rs 200 crore, Union Labour and Employment Minister Mallikarjun Kharge, under whose ministry the ESIC comes, is said to be very keen on establishing the hospital and medical college at the earliest in Gulbarga.

The Gulbarga University Syndicate has passed an unanimous resolution sparing 30 acres of land in the ‘Jnana Ganga’ campus for the establishment of the hospital and medical college.

It is a significant departure from the hitherto rather rigid stand of the university not to spare its land to others.

The Gulbarga university, three years ago, had outrightly rejected the proposal of sparing 50 acres of land for the establishment of High Court Circuit Bench and consequently the State government had to settle for the Housing Board land at Biddapur on the Afzalpur Road on the outskirts of the city.

Unanimous decision

It is said that Kharge himself was very keen on the choice of the university land to give shape to his brainchild project. He had written a demi official letter to the University’s Vice-Chancellor B G Mulimani requesting to spare 30 to 35 acres of land within the university campus for the ESI hospital and medical college. When the request was placed before the Syndicate, it unanimously decided to lease out 30 acres of land for a period of 99 years.

“There was perfect unanimity in the Syndicate decision as every one felt about the utility of the Central government project. The decision has been forwarded to the Principal Secretary of the Higher Education Department and it is for the government to take a final decision on the matter’’ Prof Mulimani told Deccan Herald.

Asked whether the hospital atmosphere would not disturb the academic serene of the university, Prof Mulimani pointed out that the university had come up in a vast 862 acres of land and sparing 30 acres for hospital and medical college will not affect the academic atmosphere of the university. He feels that in future, the university may derive some benefit with some kind of joint venture with the ESIC.


A team of officers from the Union Labour and Employment Ministry and ESIC have already visited the campus and are said to be happy with the location.

The informed sources said that Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa too has written a letter to the university authorities to consider the request for the land from of the Central government and the ESIC.

PRESS NOTIFICATION