Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 30: Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board held its 54th meeting at Raj Bhavan, under the chairmanship of N.N. Vohra, Governor, who is the Chairman of the Shrine Board.
The Board discussed various important issues regarding the operationalization of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME), which is speedily coming up at Kakriyal, near Katra.
Shrine Board had, several years ago, conceived the establishment of a sizeable hospital for providing multi speciality medical services in identified fields of health care to the people of Jammu & Kashmir. Recognizing the challenges relating to managing the operations of a large hospital and the likely difficulties, in the initial years, of securing the services of well qualified and experienced medical professionals in varied disciplines, the Board had decided to explore the possibility of SMVDIME entering into a meaningful partnership with a well known Health Care Service Provider in the country, for rendering quality health care services to the people of the State.
In this context, the Governor had set up a Committee under the chairmanship of Dr. S.S. Bloeria, Member of the Board, to identify and recommend a suitable partner for operating SMVDIME on a long term basis. This Committee, after a rigorous exercise spanning over a year and a half, recommended that the Shrine Board may negotiate a partnership with Narayana Hrudayalaya Pvt. Ltd., a well reputed Banglore based Healthcare Chain which runs 27 well known hospitals all over the country.
To take this matter forward, the Governor had, after extensive discussions in the Board, set up a Sub-Committee under the chairmanship of Dr. E. Sreedharan, Member of the Shrine Board and Principal Adviser, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and Dr. S.S Bloeria and Sudha Murthy, Members of the Shrine Board, to negotiate an agreement with Narayana Hrudayalaya Pvt Ltd for operationalizing the hospital Project. Price water house Coopers Pvt Ltd. was engaged as a Consultant for this purpose. At its meeting held yesterday, the Board accepted the recommendations of the Sub-Committee chaired by Dr. Sreedharan to enter upon a long term partnership with Narayana Hrudayalaya for operating the Shrine Board’s Hospital Project. The Chief Executive Officer of the Board, Dr. M.K. Bhandari, has been authorized to progress the matter further, for early finalisation.
While discussing the need for better connectivity of the hospital with National Highway 1A, (NH1A), the CEO, Dr. Bhandari, informed the Board that the four laning of the NH1A between Jammu and Udhampur is going on at a brisk pace and the time for commuting from Jammu to the Hospital site would get considerably reduced in the coming months. Also, the bridge over Jhajjar Nallah, once completed, would substantially reduce the travel time to the hospital.
The Board reviewed all matters relating to the completion of the road between the hospital and NH1A (via the Bridge over Jhajjar Nallah) which is being constructed by JKPCC. It was decided to request the State Government to ensure provisioning of funds for the urgent completion of this project, particularly keeping in view that this road will provide the fastest approach to the hospital for the people living in district Udhampur and beyond.
The Board also ratified the appointment of Dr. M.K. Kumar, IFoS, as Additional Chief Executive Officer of the Shrine Board with effect from 18.04.2014.
The meeting was attended by Dr. E. Sreedharan, Dr. S. S. Bloeria, Dr. Ashok Bhan, Sudha Murthi, Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma and Dr. M. K. Bhandari. At the Chairman’s invitation, B. B. Vyas, former CEO, Rakesh Kumar Gupta, Principal Secretary to Governor, Navin K. Choudhary, former CEO, and two senior Executives of PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt Ltd (Transaction Adviser for the SMVDIME Project) also participated in the discussions at the Board meeting.
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