IDA mounts pressure for ESIC medical, dental college in Jammu

The Indian Dental Association (IDA), Jammu Branch, has voiced strong concern over Jammu and Kashmir’s exclusion from the Centre’s expanding ESIC medical education network, alleging that the Union Territory has once again been overlooked while neighbouring states continue to receive new medical and dental colleges.

Dr Vibha Raina, Honorary Secretary, Indian Dental Association (IDA), Jammu Branch, in a statement on Wednesday said that the people of J&K were eagerly awaiting the announcement of a new ESIC Medical and Dental College, which would have enabled admission of a fresh batch of MBBS and BDS students for the session 2026 through NEET.

Advertisement

However, J&K has once again been left out of the Centre’s recent plans to sanction Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) medical and dental colleges. She said that people had expected all major central educational institutions to be established in the Union Territory. However, J&K was completely ignored, while such institutions have been sanctioned in all the neighbouring states.

According to official data, there are currently 20 active ESIC Medical institutes across India, with one more recently sanctioned in Haridwar, Uttarakhand. However, Jammu and Kashmir has received zero allocation for any ESIC Medical or Dental institution. In contrast, neighbouring states such as Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Rajasthan have been beneficiaries of this expansion. ESIC also has Dental Colleges in Gulbarga, Rohini and recently announced a Dental College with UG and PG facilities at Basaidarapur, New Delhi.

The IDA Jammu Branch highlighted that the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation has recently approved 10 new Medical Colleges as part of the national push to expand medical education. This aligns with the Prime Minister’s announcement aiming for 75,000 new medical seats nationwide. Despite these ambitious national goals, the complete absence of any ESIC medical or dental college in Jammu raises serious questions about regional healthcare parity and equitable development. Although ESIC has upgraded the Bari Brahmana hospital from 50 to 100 bedded facility, giving all the neighbouring states a medical college and ignoring only J&K for a medical institution seems like stepmotherly treatment of the J&K Union Territory.

“The ESIC Model Hospital at Bari Brahmana near Jammu is a well-established facility but lacks academic attachment, depriving local students of opportunities in medical and dental education.”

The Association has urged the ESIC authorities to immediately consider Jammu for ESIC Medical and Dental institutional sanction, approval for a joint Medical and Dental College campus, sanction of MBBS and BDS seats in the upcoming academic session, i.e. 2026, through the NEET exam, and integration of academic facilities with the existing ESIC Model Hospital at Bari Brahmana, which has also emerged as the industrial hub of J&K.