Patna: The Union minister of state for labour and employment, Santosh Kumar Gangwar, inaugurated a much-awaited 100-bed Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) hospital in Bihta on Saturday. As per plan, the Bihta facility has to be upgraded into a 500-bed hospital while a medical college would also be attached to the facility. The state government has provided around 27 acres of land for the project. The estimated expenditure of the project is Rs 650 crore.

Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi said that once the 300-bed hospital is operational, the process of applying for accreditation to start a medical college would be initiated.

"ESIC regional centre has decided to set up a 100-bed hospital each at Bhagalpur and Muizaffarpur. For Muzaffarpur, the state government has already provided a two-acre plot," Modi said.

Union minister of state for rural development Ram Kripal Yadav and state labour minister Vijay Kumar Sinha were among those present at the inaugural ceremony.

According to sources, there are around 3 lakh insured employees in Bihar. If their family members are counted, around 12 lakh people would benefit from the ESIC hospital. The ESIC hospital would run under the Union ministry of labour and employment but the state government is supposed to recruit doctors in the hospital.

"This ESIC Hospital would help beneficiaries of ESI. The hospital has emergency services, outpatient departments services and diagnostic facilities, including X-Ray," Gangwar said in his speech.