Patna, April 30: Makeover of a government hospital into a private one is quite difficult, especially one that has an emotional and historic connect with Jayaprakash Narayan.

JP's followers, who were associated with Kankerbagh-based Jayaprabha Hospital, started to serve the poor in 1980, opposed the state government's decision of handing over the hospital's seven-acre land through a global tender process to Medanta the Medicity last year to build a super-speciality hospital.

Among the JP followers who are opposing the decision include former health minister of the Karpoori Thakur cabinet Jabir Husain (who is also a board member of the hospital), BJP MP R.K. Sinha and others.

Both Husain and Sinha are supporting the campaign launched by Jayaprabha Aspatal Bachao Samiti - an organisation with around 100 people who claim themselves as JP followers.

As per the agreement between Medanta and the health department, the former has to develop a 500-bed super-speciality hospital within two-and-a-half years. The agreement says that 25 per cent seats would be reserved by Medanta for below the poverty line patients at the upcoming hospital. JP followers, however, believe that 25 per cent reservation of seats for poor people would not fulfil the purpose of serving to the poor.

"JP conceptualised a hospital for the poor after his wife Prabhavati Devi had died battling cancer. When the government can spend around Rs 600 crore on the construction of Bihar Museum and another Rs 500 crore on the construction of Convention Centre, why cannot it spend money on the formation of a super-speciality hospital at Jayaprabha Hospital's land?" asked Husain.

The hospital runs from a two-room building with 24 doctors on payroll. It has only outpatient department facilities.

The foundation of Jayaprabha Hospital was laid in a unique way. "Funds were raised by JP followers through mass participation and Rs 7 lakh was collected which was given to the government for buying its land and that's how Jayaprabha Hospital's foundation stone was laid in 1978. Later, Karpoori, who was very close to JP, gave back the money to the hospital's trust, which was later used for paying salaries of the hospital staff. The hospital was formally inaugurated in 1980. The foundation stone of the hospital was laid by the then President Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy two years ago (1978). JP was also present during the foundation stone-laying ceremony. The then Prime Minister Morarji Desai was the hospital's chief patron. Only outpatient department services were started at that time. In 1990s, the hospital's trust expressed its inability to run it after which the state government took it over," said doctor-turned-politician C.P. Thakur, one of the trust members, who took the decision of handing over the hospital to the government.

Thakur did not oppose the government's decision of handing over land to Medanta but he criticised the government for bringing clauses in the agreement through which the upcoming hospital would have no reference to JP. It would be named as Global Health Patliputra Pvt Ltd.

MP R.K. Sinha said: "After taking over the hospital, the government did nothing to develop it. Now that the hospital's seven-acre land has been handed over to Medanta, the scope for further expansion of the hospital has also ended."

Government Medical College principal Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, who worked at Jayaprabha Hopsital earlier, however supported the decision. "The seven-acre land of Jayaprabha Hospital has been lying idle since inception. The government does not have has expertise to start a super-speciality hospital, if takes help of a private player in setting up one, there is nothing wrong."