Materia Medica Malaysiana

Malaysian lifeline for Mayo

Malaysian lifeline for Mayo
- Healthcare group offers Rs 250-cr revival plan for ailing hospital
DEEPANKAR GANGULY
It is just what the doctor ordered — all the way from Malaysia — for an ailing hospital on Strand Road.

A healthcare organisation of Southeast Asia has put forward a mega proposal to revive north Calcutta’s Mayo Hospital. The Rs 250-crore revival plan is now with the state government and will be discussed between representatives of the Malaysia-based Health Solutions and chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, said officials.

If the revival package, to be funded by Babcock & Brown Asia-Pacific, is implemented, Mayo Hospital will be converted into a 1,000-bed, state-of-the-art healthcare facility.

The government has recently constituted a three-member team — principal secretary (health) Asim Barman, local MLA Sudhanshu Sil and assistant director (health) S.K. Raychaudhuri — to oversee the hospital’s revival.

Both figures — Rs 250 crore and 1,000 beds — are huge by Calcutta standards, admit state health department officials. Ten per cent of the beds are likely to be reserved for the free treatment of lower-income-group patients.

Health Solutions executive director Desmond Foo, in a letter to state health minister Surjya Kanta Mishra early this year, proposed to undertake a contract to give the hospital a makeover and then operate and manage it in conformity with international standards.

Business manager of Health Solutions Fok Poon Keong, in his communique, pointed out the inherent potential of Mayo Hospital. “It is strategically located to provide secondary and tertiary medical facilities currently lacking in the entire northeastern sector of India and has a potential catchment area beyond the country’s international boundary,” the letter added.

The hospital — after the revamp —would be adequate to respond to future challenges, Keong added in assurance.

Health Solutions executive director Foo, Babcock & Brown Asia-Pacific managing director Willy Lim Chong Meng and bank associate Wong Yuen Hoi are likely to come down for the meeting with the chief minister, said officials.

The 250-bed Mayo Hospital was closed down about 15 years ago for want of infrastructure. According to principal secretary (health) Barman, Eastern India Institute of Medical Science and Research Hospital took up a joint venture revival project with the state government in 1999. But hardly any headway has been made in last four years.

Then, Bijon Majumdar of the B.K. Group came up with the Malaysian proposal. “Health Solutions has decided to use Calcutta as a stepping stone for its investment in healthcare facilities in India,” said Majumdar.