Bengal shelves PPP model hospital project

The West Bengal government has finally dumped the Chief Minister’s dream project of establishing Super-Speciality and Multi-Speciality hospitals under Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, as there is no taker of the project.
May 31 was scheduled as the ultimate day to finalise the names of the ‘Transaction Advisors’ to negotiate between the state and the proposed investors.

The notice issued by Punit Yadav, Managing Director of the West Bengal Medical Service Corporation (WBMSC) on its website said, ‘due to unavoidable circumstances, the Department of Health and Family Welfare has decided to hold in abeyance the process of procurement of Transaction Advisor for establishment of Multi-Speciality/ Super-Speciality hospitals through PPP mode.’ Transaction advisors were supposed to finalise the spots, extend financial, legal and technical advices to the state.

Just after becoming Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee promised to set up 35 super-speciality and multi-speciality hospitals in all over the state including Jungle Mahal. Total 13 places in backward districts were identified in the first phase. The places were Jhargram (in West Midnapore), Nandigram (East Midnapore), Jangipur (Murshidabad), Rampurhat (Birbhum), Chanchol (Malda), Raiganj (South Dinajpur), Balurghat (North Dinajpur), Diamond Harbour (South 24 Parganas), Basirhat (North 24 Parganas), Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar in North Bengal.

Interestingly, the Chief Minister herself holds the Health and Family Welfare ministry and looking after it single-handedly. After deaths of over hundred cribs in different hospitals, she added Chandrima Bhattacharya as Minister of State to the department. Though Chief Minister believes in ‘Do it now’ and claims to have completed 10 years job in one year, her department failed to move an inch to fulfill promise.

In fact, the first Advertisement inviting Expression of Interest (EoI) from private partners to operate and manage these Super-Speciality and Multi-Speciality hospitals was issued on April 24 this year. The last date for submission of EoI was May 2, but none responded. “A few interested persons enquired about the facilities and criteria, but no official bid was submitted,” said an official in the health department.

The government extended the date of submission and tried to hire ‘Transaction Advisor’ (TA) to help the department and its nodal agency WBMSC. A pre-bid meeting for the interested parties for TA was scheduled on May 17 and the result was as usual — no taker. The date was extended once again to May 31. But, understanding the outcome, the WBMSC issued ‘hold in abeyance’ notice even before the deadline ends.

Spokesperson of the health department Dr Asit Biswas admits that the “implementation of PPP model in West Bengal was slow. Reportedly, the department is now considering hiring private agencies directly to analyse grassroots situation and come out with an acceptable solution. But, insiders have different stories. Though the TAs were to finalise spots, but the department has already finalized spots considering political aspects, which are not lucrative to the investors.

These places, selected to set up facilities, are far from rural hospitals. Secondly, the way state government dealt with the promoters of first PPP model in the state, AMRI, have send alarm to other prospective investors. “Particularly, our community has seen it as an instance of vengeance by the Chief Minister and her party,” said a Marwari businessman of Kolkata on condition of anonymity. West Bengal has low profit margin than other health hubs like Chennai or Bangalore. “After the AMRI episode, PPP model is not a feasible option for investment in healthcare sector in this state,” he added.