Delhi govt in talks with Centre over superspeciality hospitals

According to Delhi Health Minister Dr A K Walia,“We have spoken to officials in the Union Health Ministry,who contacted us about the hospitals. Over the next two months,we will see if they can help us make both the hospitals fully functional at the earliest.”

Dr Walia added that in the next two months,the Central and State governments would “together” arrive at a model to open both the hospitals. “The Centre has given us hope that it will provide some help. But if nothing works out,the Delhi government will ensure that the hospital starts functioning within two months,” Dr Walia said.

After completing the screening process for bidders in the Request for Qualification (RFQ) stage,eight companies were shortlisted to apply for the Request for Proposal stage. This RFQ proposal,incidentally,was changed multiple times during the tenures of previous health ministers Yoganand Shastri and Kiran Walia. Dr Walia had told Newsline in May that despite considerable relaxations to woo private parties,none of the eight had come forward to even participate in the second stage.

The changes approved by the Delhi Cabinet included a reduction in the annual amount that the private partner was expected to pay the government,and an increase in the time frame of the project from 17 to 20 years.

In May,Delhi government officials had said the hospitals would be brought under the administrative control of the largest government hospitals in their vicinity – the Tahirpur hospital under GTB Hospital and the Janakpuri hospital under DDU Hospital.