Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike proposes to lease out swanky  hospital

BENGALURU: THE Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has proposed to lease out its newly constructed 100-bed super-specialty hospital, spread over 20,000 sq ft on Broadway Road in Shivajinagar, to Narayana Health (NH) for a period of 30 years. But, no tender has been called in this regard.

A Change.org petition has been urging Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Urban Development Minister Roshan Baig to intervene and stop privatisation of a government hospital. It is also not clear why the hospital cannot be handed over to the Department of Health and Family Welfare or the Medical Education Department if the BBMP is unable to run it, the petition says.The land value and cost of construction of the hospital is around `40 crore.

According to the petition, the BBMP is expected to spend an additional Rs 11.17 crore to make the facility National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABHHP)-compliant.But Narayana Health plans to invest only `20 crore for medical equipment and working capital. “Narayana Health claims it will offer subsidised care to the poor. But this offer of subsidised treatment constitutes only three per cent of the total hospital revenue. It will allot 10 per cent beds as ‘free beds’ implying that Narayana Health can use the remaining 90 per cent beds for profit. Patients will have to bear the cost of implants and medicines,” said the petition created by Vijaya Kumar Seethappa of NGO Karnataka Janarogya Chaluvali. The BBMP runs 32 hospitals, including six referral hospitals and 26 maternity hospitals.

A senior health BBMP official confirmed that the proposal was passed in the BBMP council one-and-a-half years back. The supposed deal is being worked out between the Department of Urban Development and Narayana Health.

The hospital with its glistening glass exterior stands majestic on Broadway Road near Russel Market. Public health activists say it is a foregone conclusion for the poor to walk into a corporate hospital considering their inability to pay which is the section of society it was supposed to cater to as a hospital conceived by the local civic body.

“The construction is nearly complete. The proposal by Narayana Health has not been finalised yet. The building is ready. Local MLAs and corporators will take the decision. The matter should either come to the council or be decided at the government level,” said Mayor Sampath Raj.

Mahendra Jain, additional chief secretary, urban development department, said, “This is still at a proposal stage that is being examined and no decision has been taken. No tender was called. I think BBMP had entered into an MoU with Narayana Health. The BBMP might have felt that they will provide better medical services.”

BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad did not respond to repeated calls and messages from The New Indian Express. Narayana Health founder Dr Devi Shetty and the administration at NH refused to comment on the issue.

“The recent protests in the state by corporate and private hospitals, including Narayana Health, against the progressive Karnataka Private Medical Establishment Act amendments which claimed more than 30 innocent lives amply demonstrates that they will stop at nothing to protect their profits,” said the petition.
To say that the “government does not have the capacity to run such a hospital” is a lame excuse and does not stand up to evidence. There are shining examples of well-functioning government hospitals such as Jayadeva and NIMHANS in the city, the petition said.