New Delhi: The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) on Tuesday approved key proposals to strengthen the organisation’s healthcare infrastructure, expand medical education, and improve the corporation’s efficiency and service delivery.
The meeting, chaired by Labour & Employment Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, decided that all upcoming and newly commissioned ESI Hospitals will be directly managed by the ESIC. Hospitals currently under state governments and undergoing reconstruction or upgradation will continue under the state management unless the state government concerned opts for handover to the ESIC, according to an official statement.
In-principle approval was accorded for reorganisation and strengthening of the Medical Education Division, including creation of functional verticals and additional posts, and constitution of an ESIC Medical Education Advisory Board, to support the expansion of medical, dental, nursing, and allied health science institutions.
In-principle approval was granted for two major medical education initiatives — construction of a Dental College with UG and PG facilities, a Super-Specialty cum OPD Block, staff quarters, hostels, and allied infrastructure at ESIC Medical College & Hospital, Basaidarapur, New Delhi; and the setting up of a new ESIC Medical College at Haridwar in Uttarakhand, with an annual intake of 50 MBBS admissions, utilising the existing infrastructure of ESIC Hospital, Haridwar, from the academic year 2027–28 onwards.
The Corporation also approved a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Ayush and the ESIC to create a joint framework for integration, promotion, strengthening, and capacity-building of Ayush services within the ESIC’s healthcare delivery system, addressing occupational and lifestyle-related health challenges through holistic and accessible care.
It also approved the adoption of a new consolidated Memorandum of Understanding for State ESI Societies, replacing the 2017 models of the Memorandum of Association and Rules & Regulations, necessitated by the enactment of the Code on Social Security, 2020.
The Corporation approved a series of major healthcare infrastructure initiatives, including the establishment of Occupational Disease Centres (ODCs) at Sanathnagar, Faridabad, Ludhiana, Beltola, and Bhubaneswar along with in-principle approval for Zonal Rehabilitation Centres for comprehensive occupational health management. An in-principle approval was given for a Radiation Oncology Block at ESIC Medical College & Hospital, Joka, Kolkata — featuring a High-Energy Linear Accelerator, CT Simulator Unit, Brachytherapy Unit, and PET-CT Scan facility — to strengthen cancer care for beneficiaries across the Eastern Zone, including West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, and the North-Eastern States.
The Corporation also approved the framing of the Employees’ State Insurance (General) Regulations, 2026, under the Code on Social Security, 2020, revising the existing Employees’ State Insurance (General) Regulations, 1950.
In view of ESIC’s expansion following implementation of the Code on Social Security, 2020, with effect from Nov 21, 2025, the Corporation approved the establishment of five new Sub-Regional Offices (SROs) at Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh, Rajkot (Gujarat), Jamshedpur (Jharkhand), and Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh), to improve service delivery, compliance monitoring, and decentralisation of administration.
The extension of the unemployment allowance scheme for Insured Persons was also approved for a further period of one year, from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, the statement added.
(IANS)
