Shimla, July 4 (IANS): An MoU was signed between the Himachal Pradesh government and the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) on Monday regarding the transfer of ESIC Hospital and Medical College in Mandi town to the state.

It was signed by state Principal Secretary (Health) Prabodh Saxena and ESIC Regional Director Ashok Chandra here where Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh was among the dignitaries present.

Constructed at a cost of Rs.924.82 crore, the hospital has been given on lease to the state for 99 years, an official statement said.

The state has to refund Rs.285.23 crore in five annual installments beginning after two years from the start of the college, which will have 100 MBBS seats for the college.

The college complex has four blocks, a library, a five storey administrative block, a nursing college and seven museums.

It is equipped with 500-bed facility and a 40-bed casualty department.

Health Minister Kaul Singh told IANS that the session in the ESIC Hospital and Medical College would start next year.

Spread over an area of more than 31 acres on National Highway 21, the medical college was announced by the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2007 but the successive BJP government had withdrawn the notification.

The college building was inaugurated on March 5, 2014, and a Medical Council of India team had also inspected the building.

However, when the BJP-led National Democratic Government came into power at the centre, it had decided not to go ahead with the ESIC colleges.