Ranchi Industrial Area Development Authority

Only a single bid has come in for a 200-bed, multi-speciality hospital being set up under the aegis of Ranchi Industrial Area Development Authority (RIADA) in an effort to bring quality medical care to the state capital hitherto dependent on state-run Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences.

While other private health majors, like Apollo from Chennai and Fortis from Delhi, have backed out, only Durgapur Medical centre sent in a bid for the hospital that is to come up at Tupudana industrial area in the outskirts of Ranchi.

The bids were opened on November 16. But, given that this was the second time that such an exercise was being undertaken to push the project through, the advisers for the project, Jharkhand Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (JINFRA), is now thinking of asking the government to allow single bidding and consider the case of the Bengal institute.

According to sources, while the state government wanted to develop the project under public-private partnership, Apollo and Fortis groups were apparently in favour of running it under a franchise model for more operational freedom.

The developer, once selected, will have to provide good healthcare at reasonable cost. It would be given land that has already been earmarked for the project.

Measuring 3.7 acre, the land is likely to be handed over to the selected company on long-term lease, possibly 30 years, with the obligation/right to design, finance, implement, manage and operate the hospital on commercial lines.

State industry secretary A.P. Singh said the project would be a test case for his department which was till now involved in setting up infrastructure only for heavy industries.

RIADA has mandated JINFRA, a joint venture between IL&FS Infrastructure Development Corporation and Jharkhand Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (JIIDCO), to ensure fast and systematic development of the hospital project.

If all goes well, the 200-bed hospital will go a long way in providing some succour to Ranchi’s already strained healthcare apparatus that is heavily dependent on RIMS, an ill-equipped district hospital and a handful of private clinics.

As for medical colleges, Jharkhand has only three which together produce 190 doctors every year.