Reserve 20% beds for poor, state panel tells Seven Hills

The controversy surrounding the Seven Hills hospital in Andheri, which is under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), is expected to ebb.

Urban development department under the state government has come with a report and drafted an agreement which the hospital and the civic body will have to abide by.

Under the report, the hospital administration will have to reserve 20% beds for poor patients in every department. In addition, the report makes the hospital authority liable to distribute medicines to poor patients at a subsidised rate. Under the medical schedule under the civic-run hospitals, the civic administration will issue rate contracts for the medicines and the expenses will be borne by the hospital administration. However, chief minister Ashok Chavan is yet to sign the report.

“We appreciate the report and it is welcomed by the civic administration. The government has echoed the sentiments of the poor as their needs have been looked into,” said Dr Sanjay Oak, dean KEM hospital.

Meanwhile, two BMC officials — the director and the additional municipal commissioner will be part of the 10-member managing committee of the hospital, while one officer on special duty will be deployed. The report also states that 80% of the employees in the hospital will have to be from the state’s domicile.

The bed-sharing formula, along with the rate at which medicines would be distributed to poor patients had been a bone of contention. Even though the hospital facility was inaugurated by president Pratibha Patil, the memorandum of understanding (MOU) is yet to be signed between the BMC and the Seven Hills hospital.

However, the hospital administration said that the agreement signed with the civic administration is abiding and refuted possibility of any dispute.

Even though MOU hasn’t been signed between both the institutions, the hospital has reserved 20% beds for poor patients, said Dr CK Taneja, senior vice-president of Seven Hills hospital. “We are committed to the agreement signed in 2005.

Multiple parties are involved in the discussion and we are in the process of finalising the agreement. The MOU will be soon signed with the civic body,” added Dr Taneja.

The Seven Hills hospital has a 1,500-bed facility and is spread over 17 acres of land, which is owned by the BMC. The hospital is the first super specialty centre built on a PPP model.