Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Sept 30: Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) today executed a Concession Agreement with Narayana Hrudayalaya Pvt. Ltd. Bangalore for operation of a multi-specialty hospital at Kakryal-Katra.
The concession agreement was signed by Dr. M.K. Bhandari, Chief Executive Officer of the Shrine Board and Dr. Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, Vice-Chairman and Group CEO, Narayana Hrudayalaya Pvt. Ltd. in the presence of N.N. Vohra, Governor of J&K and Chairman, SMVDSB and Dr. Devi Shetty, Chairman of Narayana Hrudayalaya. Others present at the important event included E. Sreedharan, Dr. S.S. Bloeria and Dr. Ashok Bhan, all of whom are members of the Shrine Board.
Several years ago the Shrine Board had decided to setup a Super-Specialty hospital at Kakryal for providing high standard medical care to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Recognizing the challenges involved in managing the operations of a large hospital and the difficulties likely to be faced in the initial years, particularly in securing the services of well qualified and experienced medical professionals in varied disciplines to serve in a rural area, the Shrine Board Chairman, N.N. Vohra, had asked the CEO to explore the possibility of the Shrine Board entering into a meaningful partnership, on PPP basis, with a well known Health Care Service Provider in the country, for collaborative operation of the hospital.
Shrine Board approved of this approach and the Governor had set up a Committee of the Board to identify a partner. After an extensive exercise the Shrine Board decided that negotiations should be undertaken to establish a long term partnership with Narayana Hrudayalaya Pvt. Ltd., a reputed Bangalore based Healthcare Chain which runs 27 well known hospitals all over the country.
To achieve this objective a Committee of Board Members was set up under the Chairmanship of Dr. E. Sreedharan, with Dr. S.S. Bloeria and Sudha Murthy as its members. The Shrine Board, at its meeting held on 29th July 2014 accepted the recommendations of the Sreedharan Committee and the draft Concession Agreement prepared by it. This decision cleared the way for this hospital project, on which the Shrine Board has already incurred an expenditure of about Rs. 200 crore, becoming operational within a year.
Expressing immense pleasure over the conclusion of the agreement with Narayana Hrudayalaya Pvt. Ltd., the Governor observed that the successful functioning of this Super-Specialty Hospital would enable the Board to make a major contribution towards the provision of quality medical care for people of the state. The Governor observed that, as per the discussions carried out with Narayana Hrudayalaya he expected this hospital to develop into an excellent institution which will provide the highest quality services to the people of J&K.
He advised Dr. M.K. Bhandari, CEO, to also commence time bound steps for a Medical College and a Nursing College being set up in the vicinity of the hospital campus and for both these institutions to admit the fresh batches of students in 2018.
Dr. Bhandari explained that all necessary steps for operationalizing the hospital are nearing completion and it is planned to be commissioned in October, 2015, during the Navratra period. He informed that this 230 bedded hospital will have more than 20 different streams of medicine and surgery, which will include cardiology, cardio-thoracic surgery, neurology, neuro-surgery, nephrology, urology, oncology, pulmonology, bone-marrow transplant, gastroenterology, orthopaedics, trauma-medicine, paediatrics and neonatology, obstetrics and gynaecology.
Regarding road connectivity with this Super-Specialty Hospital, the Governor observed that with the completion of four laning of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway upto Udhampur within the next few months, this hospital would be one of the most conveniently approachable tertiary healthcare destinations for the people of the entire J&K, as also of those living in the adjoining states.
Narayana Hrudayalaya Pvt. Ltd. is a highly reputed professional healthcare chain which has set up hospitals all over the country, including in the North-East region. This chain has developed an enviable reputation of being both a philanthropic organization and a reputed service oriented healthcare group of hospitals.
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