Government move to hand over district maternity hospital to private firm opposed

The Hindu‎‎: Udipi: Monday, September 05, 2016.

A group of like-minded citizens have opposed the State government’s decision to hand over the land and management of District Government Maternity and Children’s Hospital to a private entity, BRS Ventures, on Build Own Operate and Transfer (BOOT) basis under Public Private Participation (PPP) mode, here.

Addressing presspersons, K. Phaniraj, writer, and P.V. Bhandary, psychiatrist, said the District Government Maternity and Children’s Hospital has been rendering services to poor women and children for the last seven decades. It was a ray of hope for the poor in the district.

But the State government, had on August 24, decided to allow BRS Ventures, owned by NRI businessman, B.R. Shetty, to construct a 200-bed maternity and children’s hospital, a 400-bed super-specialty hospital and an urban community health centre, and run it for 60 years under BOOT basis.

These proposed healthcare institutions would come up on 3.6 acres of land in the heart of the city, where the 70-bed District Government Maternity and Children’s Hospital is located.

The 3.6 acres of prime land was donated to the hospital by the philanthropist, late Haji Abdulla Saheb, who is also the founder of Corporation Bank. In his deed donating the land, Abdulla Saheb made it clear that the land should not be given to any entity other than the government. “We are seeking the copy of the deed and also various documents connected to this matter under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. We have sought clarification from the government on its entire deal with BRS Ventures, but so far there has been no response,” Mr. Bhandary said.

Mr. Phaniraj said when the government wanted to do such a major transaction involving public interest, it should be transparent and forthcoming. All details should be made known to the public. “But there is hardly anything transparent about this move though it deals with the healthcare issues of lakhs of poor,” he said.

The government should not give this hospital or its land to any private entity. Instead, better facilities should be provided at this hospital. A government medical college should be established in Udupi, he said.

Move criticised

In a separate press meet, the Udupi Zilla Muslim Okkoota also opposed the government’s decision on this matter. Shashidhar Hemmady, U. Yogish Shet, Hussain Kodibengre, and Balakrishna Shetty, Khatib Abdul Rashid, Ismail H., Sallauddin Abdulla, Abdulla Kasim Barkur, were present.