ESIC medical college students need not worry: Labour Minister

New Delhi, Jan 22: Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya has assured students of medical colleges run by Employees' State Insurance Corporation that their interest will be protected even though the body has decided to quit medical education.

"If the state government is not willing to take over those medical colleges, the ESIC would continue to run the course until all the admitted students pass out or they are adjusted in other medical colleges as per the essentially certificate issued by the state government concerned," an official release quoted the minister as saying.

If state governments were willing to take over those medical colleges, courses will continue as before, he added. Students of ESIC medical colleges of Kolkata, Chennai, Karnataka and Delhi had met the Minister in Chennai and Delhi to express their anxiety about their future in the light of ESIC's decision to exit the field of medical education.

The Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) took up medical education with the intention to have dedicated access to medical manpower in order to improve the quality of services.

The release said the interest of faculty will also be taken care of. In case its medical colleges are taken over by states, the faculty recruited by ESIC would be given option of deputation with respective state governments till retirement without adversely affecting service conditions as applicable to similarly placed functionaries at ESIC institutions.

ESIC would also explore the possibility of their return/ redeployment wherever feasible.

In cases where state governments are not willing to take over its medical colleges, regular teaching faculty recruited by ESIC would be given option, wherever feasible, for utilising their services in the ESIC in a non-teaching role, without adversely affecting their service conditions, it added.

PTI