Chennai: The Union ministry of labour and employment has asked the state government to decide upon taking over of the ESIC Medical Colleges in the state on or before January, says Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya. The minister, who was here on Saturday, said that the prime work of the ministry of labour and employment is not to run medical colleges and hospitals and so it has decided to hand over the medical colleges in the country to the state governments concerned.
He added that the ministry runs 13 medical colleges across the country and the state governments of Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka have already given its nod to take over the colleges in their state. “The ministry has now asked the state governments to decide upon taking over the colleges in their state on or before January 31. There are two ESIC Medical Colleges in Tamil Nadu – one in Coimbatore and one in Chennai,” he noted.
Earlier, students of the ESIC Medical College in KK Nagar held a protest in front of the college, fearing the announcement of closure of the college. They urged the state government to take up the college.
“The ministry will set up four new 100-bedded ESIC hospitals in the state at Tuticorin, Kanyakumari, Tirupur and Sriperumbudur, each at a cost of about Rs 70-80 crore,” Bandura says.Bandura noted the employment exchanges in the country will be remodelled as National Career Service Centres. The new upgraded centre will register the unemployed and send SMS alert on the available vacancies, including additional services like counselling. The ministry has planned to introduce National Workers Vocational University which will give training and certify the skilled labours, he added.
