Pune will get its third government medical college after the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare approved 50 MBBS seats at the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation hospital in Bibvewadi, with admissions expected to begin in the 2027-28 academic year.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced the approval on social media. The new college will be attached to the ESIC Hospital and managed by the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, according to Dr Pradip Gaikwad, dean of the hospital.
The approval expands Pune’s public medical education network beyond Sassoon General Hospital and the Pune Municipal Corporation’s Bharatratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical College. It will also link undergraduate medical training to an existing public hospital serving the Bibvewadi area.
Gaikwad said the hospital had submitted the proposal two years ago, with the initial intention of starting the medical college earlier. He added that the hospital was still awaiting the official approval letter despite learning about the decision through media reports.
Fadnavis said the approval would support medical education in Maharashtra and create additional opportunities for MBBS aspirants. In his announcement, he thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union health minister J P Nadda for approving the institution.
Madhuri Misal, minister of state for medical education, said she had pursued the proposal for a 50-seat medical college at the Bibvewadi hospital. According to her statement, the proposal had earlier been returned twice for reconsideration before the latest decision.
The ESIC Hospital currently has 220 beds and operates on a 10-acre plot. A 500-bed hospital is also under construction at the site. Misal said the larger facility would be completed and made operational by the end of this year, creating additional clinical capacity alongside the proposed medical college.
The hospital’s expansion is significant for the college because medical education requires access to clinical facilities and patient-care infrastructure. However, the supplied information does not specify the detailed construction, staffing, accreditation or affiliation milestones required before admissions can begin.
The new institution is expected to start admitting students from 2027-28, subject to the completion of the remaining administrative and institutional processes. The hospital is awaiting the formal approval communication from the authorities.
