Four 100-bed hospitals to come up in Tamil Nadu: Dattatreya

Four 100-bed hospitals, each estimated to cost Rs 100 crore, would be set up in Tamil Nadu under the Employees State Insurance Corporation scheme, Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said today.
"The ministry has increased the coverage of the minimum wage limit from Rs 15,000 to Rs 21,000 so that there is an increase in enrolment of new workers. For Tamil Nadu, we are going to sanction four 100-bed hospitals," he told reporters here.
The hospitals would come up in Tiruppur, Kanyakumari, Sriperumbudur and Tuticorin, Dattatreya said after chairing the State Labour Ministers and Principal Secretaries of Department of Labour Conference.

"This move aims to expand the coverage of ESIC. Land has been given by the state government. These (the four hospitals) will be set up in two years," he said.
Informing that the Labour Ministry has also decided to upgrade the dispensaries in the country, he said, "There are about 1,500 dispensaries in the country. We want at least 400 of them to be upgraded to six-bed hospitals."
It would cost about Rs 15 crore each, he said, adding the ministry is also looking at the possibility of setting up 30-bed hospitals each at Dindigul, Ranipet, Ambur, Tambaram, Kovilpatti, Rajapalayam and Virudhunagar in the state.