A public sector unit, the ONGC Ltd. has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Aurangabad-based Babasaheb Ambedkar Vaidyakiya Pratishthan (BAVP) to build and run a 300 bed hospital at Rajabari in Sivsagar in Assam. The hospital project worth Rs 313 crore is expected to be completed in three years. The BAVP already runs Dr. Hedgewar Hospital at Aurangabad in Maharashtra. The unique feature of this institution is that since it is an RSS-inspired organisation, it does not work for profiteering and instead all earnings are put back into running it more proficiently.
In the first phase, the hospital is expected to start in 2019 and the project will be completed in 2023. The 50- acre land for the project was acquired in July 2013 at a cost of Rs 3.75 crore.
According to the project report, the hospital will provide medical facilities like internal medicine, pediatrics, general surgery, ENT, orthopedics, gynaechology, pulmonary medicine and ophthalmology. All medical facilities will be offered at a subsidized rate upto 70 per cent lower than the market prices. In addition, 33 percent beds will be reserved for the economically weaker section patients. The profits earned by the hospital will be utilised and invested in upgrading the medical facilities and healthcare systems, according to DD Misra, Director of Human Resources, ONGC.
The multi speciality hospital, to be set up with the support of BAVP’s Dr Hegdewar Hospital in Aurangabad, would provide quality health care to people living around the Assam asset area.
The MoU signed on March 10 is the largest commitment of the PSU under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). “The ONGC is committed to implementing its CSR initiatives across the country and has given special focus on the North East by setting up its single largest project anywhere in the country,” officiating chairman-cum-managing director Shashi Shankar said after signing of the MoU here. “ONGC is a responsible corporate and besides its operational responsibilities, is equally focused on the economic uplift of people in and around its operational areas,” he said.
The decision to set up the hospital at Sivsagar was taken following a survey which found that majority of the patients moved out of the state for speciality treatment, while a very small percentage moved to Dibrugarh’s Assam Medical College Hospital or to Guwahati, he said.
“There is a deficit of quality medical service and this hospital will cater to the need of the people living in and around our areas of operation in Assam, besides fulfilling the aspirations of the stakeholders,” Shashi Shankar said.
BAVP chairman Anil Bhalerao thanked ONGC for having faith in them and signing the MoU for the setting up of the hospital. “We are committed to providing quality medical care at a very low cost and if surplus revenue is generated, we will plough it back in the hospital. We will take only the goodwill of the people with us,” he said.
The hospital will benefit the people of north-east India. Establishing a hospital in Sivsagar will help to take the load off from Assam Medical College in Dibrugarh and Tezpur Medical College-the only government medical centres in Upper Assam and both are overburdened. Our hospital, hopefully will also cater to patients coming from neighbouring Nagaland, Bhalerao said.
The first phase of the hospital would be set up by July 2019 at an estimated cost of Rs 99.07 crore to create a hundred beds and provide healthcare facilities, ONGC officials said. The second phase would cost Rs 96.05 crore to create 120 beds with cardiology, cardiac surgery, and gastroenterology, nephrology, urology, neurology, neurosurgery, paediatric surgery, and surgical gastroenterology, plastic and cosmetic surgery and was expected to be completed by July 2021. The final phase was estimated to cost Rs 117.22 crore for creation of 142 beds with renal transplant, IVF, endocrinology, surgical oncology, medical oncology and radiation facilities and would be completed by July 2023.
