ESIC considering to open 10 new medical colleges across India

NEW DELHI: Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) is considering setting up 10 new medical colleges across the country to provide services to its subscribers in unserved or under-served areas.

The 10 new medical colleges have been proposed at Pune, Manesar, Kollam, Surat, Vishakhapatnam, Bhubaneshwar, Asansol, Nagpur, Pandunagar and Margaon, Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya told reporters here.

He also stated that these ten medical colleges will be set in addition to already approved ones in Andheri, Basaidarapur, Guwahati-Beltola, Indore, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Naroda - Bapunagar, Noida, Varanasi and Ranchi.

The ESIC in its 194th meeting has approved in-principle the establishment of 10 new medical colleges. The minister further informed that ESIC is also working on converging with Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) to offer comprehensive, cashless medical care to over 14.4 crore beneficiaries.

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Primary, Community Health Centres

The ESIC beneficiaries will be able to get their treatment done at PMJAY empanelled hospitals. For ESIC beneficiaries, there will not be any cap on expenditure, he stated.

The ESIC is also formulating a policy to extend medical care through Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and Community Health Centres (CHCs) in non-implemented and partially implemented districts, ensuring access to ESIC benefits for deemed beneficiaries in these regions.

In 2014, the minister stated that the scheme was implemented in 393 districts and is now extended to 691 districts (as on April 21, 2025). Among these 691 districts, 592 are fully notified while 99 are partially notified. As many as 87 districts are yet to be notified by the ESIC.

The minister noted that recently the scheme is notified in 8 districts of Nagaland and 15 districts of Uttar Pradesh, which will provide Social Security to 76,274 additional number of IPs (insured persons) and their families. Further proposal for notification of one district each of Odisha & Uttar Pradesh, two districts of Maharashtra, six districts of Bihar is under process.