ESIC Hospital in Andheri to get medical college in 2025-26

The ESIC hospital in Andheri was charred in a major fire in December 2018, in which 11 persons died and 146 persons were injured, including five infants. The majority of its services were then shifted to the ESIC hospital in Kandivali

MUMBAI: The state medical education department has permitted the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) to set up a 50-seat graduate medical college on its premises at the ESIC Hospital in Andheri East. ESIC regional director Abhilasha Jha said that the first batch would be admitted in the academic year 2025-26 and the fees would be ₹24,000 per year, one of the lowest anywhere. This will be the first central government organisation to start a medical college in Mumbai.

Mumbai, India. Sep 15, 2025 - View of Employee`s State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) hospital at MIDC area in Andheri. Mumbai, India. Sep 15, 2025. (Photo by Raju Shinde/HT Photo) (Raju Shinde)

The Centre has also sanctioned a 50-seat graduate medical college in GT Hospital. Mumbai currently has government and civic medical colleges in Nair, KEM, Sion, Cooper, and J J hospitals.

The ESIC hospital in Andheri was charred in a major fire in December 2018, in which 11 persons died and 146 persons were injured, including five infants. The majority of its services were then shifted to the ESIC hospital in Kandivali. After the fire, it was found that the hospital did not have a fire NOC, and 20 unauthorised LPG cylinders had been stored inside the building.

The initiative to transfer the ESIC hospital to the central government was taken back in 2008 by the then chief minister Vilsarao Deshmukh and health minister Suresh Shetty. “The medical college was sanctioned when Oscar Fernandes was labour minister—he granted ₹500 crore to build it into a model superspeciality hospital,” said Shetty, who was also the Andheri East MLA. “The fire in 2018 delayed things. I am glad it is finally starting now.”

After the fire, things remained at a standstill, and it was only after Congress leader Rajesh Sharma filed a PIL in the Bombay high court pointing out that the hospital was not operational even five years after the fire that the court ordered the National Building Construction Company to complete the construction by August 2025, and instructed ESIC to make the hospital fully operational by January 31, 2026. The final fire NOC from the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation and the fire department is still pending.

The ESIC complex in Andheri has a 300-bed hospital, of which 100 beds are now functional. The rest will start soon, and the construction and interiors of the complex will be completed by December.