ESIC to gift one medical college to Bihar

CM NITISH KUMAR; get going

Union government has gifted Bihar a model medical college cum hospital. The Ministry of labour and employment, government of India, has decided to setup a medical college in Bihar. Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), a corporation under Union Ministry of Labour and employment, working for the benefit and welfare of the state employees, has planned to open a 500 beds medical college cum hospital at Bihata, a place some 50 KMs away from state capital Patna. Foundation stone of this proposed Medical College cum Hospital was laid by Meira Kumar, the speaker of Lok Sabah, who hails from Bihar.

This project would incur Rs/-523 crore and would be completed within a couple of years. The 500 bed hospital will be come up in 25 acres of land which has been made available by the state government. Speaking on the occasion, Malikarjun Kharge, the union minister for labour, said that this hospital will be the first of its kind and the labour ministry will provide additional funds also if need arises.

CM Nitish Kumar requested the minister to ask his officials to start the construction work as soon as possible. He also requested Mera Kumar to direct union ministry of health and family welfare to complete the AIIMS project at Patna. The proposed hospital’s foundation stone was laid by Bhairon singh shekhawat, the then Vice President some 8 years ago, but nothing tangible has so far been done. CM was particularly referring to the delay and requested both speaker and Minister to ensure that this project is completed within stipulated time.

If the ESIC project is completed in time, the session can begin from 2011-12 itself.  Minister elaborated upon the scheme and said that out of total seats for medicos, 40% each will go to all India test and state government and out of remaining 20% seats will go to the children and wards of the employees of ESIC and wards of insured employees. The process to take nod of MCI is underway, the minister added. At present there are 19 dispensaries and one model hospital in Bihar which are catering to the needs of employees. If this project gets completed in time, it will be a great boon for state as well as employees of the state. At present, the State has only 6 government medical colleges and two private medical colleges catering to the needs of about 8.5 crores population. The need to open new medical colleges and hospital both in government sector as well as in private sector is urgently felt. The CM, nitish kumar is desperately trying to improve healthcare infrastructure by way of creating more administrative and building infrastructure. He has already planned to open as many as 6 new medical colleges but due to procedural and legal wrangle, none of them could be started. The Medical Council of India (MCI), a regulatory body to oversee medical education created under an Act, has declined to give its nod to start the session in these proposed medical colleges.

In this backdrop, this step is a big leap for the CM who is leaving no stone unturned to improve the ailing state.