Among list of locations being actively considered
PANAJI
The 100-bedded ESI hospital on the outskirts of Margao could soon have a full-fledged medical college, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has indicated.
Sawant said Goa’s request to be included in the list of locations being considered for setting up new medical colleges has received a positive response from the Centre.
In a post on micro-blogging site ‘X’, formerly Twitter, Sawant thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister for Labour and Employment, Dr Mansukh Mandviya, for considering the request.
Sawant wrote: “Deeply grateful to Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji and Union Minister for Labour & Employment Dr @mansukhmandviya ji for positively considering Goa’s request for the inclusion of ESI Margao Hospital in the list of locations under active consideration for setting up new medical colleges.”
Sawant said the medical college at the ESI hospital in Margao will immensely strengthen healthcare infrastructure and expand opportunities for medical education in South Goa.
The ESI’s 100-plus-bedded hospital in Margao had come in handy for the State when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020 and the newly built ‘Hospicio’ South Goa District Hospital was yet to be fully operational.
A second medical college in Goa, to be located in South Goa, has been on the State government’s radar for a few years now.
Earlier, the Health Minister had proposed setting it up in South Goa, albeit as a private college linked to the Hospicio District Hospital.
However, following objections from the Opposition and citizens to handing over the Hospicio hospital — a major tertiary medical facility catering to South Goa — to a private entity, the move was shelved.
Interestingly, the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), an autonomous labour welfare agency of the Centre, has also embarked on an ambitious plan to build a new 150-bedded super-speciality hospital at Mulgao in Bicholim.
Revenue Minister Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate, who also holds the labour portfolio, had announced the plan in January 2023.
The project, according to him, was to be executed in two years on land provided by the Goa Housing Board.
ESI will take on board a biomedical engineer to oversee the planning, procurement and installation of the medical equipment for the hospital project, he added.
