On August 24, the Karnataka cabinet approved handing over a government maternity and children’s hospital to a company in the UAE to develop into a larger multi-specialty hospital. The company BRS Ventures owned by Indian businessman BR Shetty will be allowed to construct a 200-bed maternity and children’s hospital, a 400-bed super-specialty hospital and an urban community health centre. The memorandum of understanding allows BRS Ventures to run the facilities for 60 years under a build-own-operate-transfer model.
It was only when Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah official twitter handle put out a tweet “A govt hospital in Udupi shall be handed over to Abu Dhabi-based entrepreneur BR Shetty to develop it into a multi-specialty hospital” that the proposed handover became public.
BR Shetty has several business interests, especially in health-related areas. He owns the London-listed NMC Health, UAE's largest private healthcare provider as well as a drug manufacturing company Neopharma. The Karnataka government has also awarded the contract to develop Jog Falls in Shimoga district to Shetty.
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Philanthropy, real or disguised, has been the bane of democratization of healthcare. Citizens are caught today between the proverbial rock and hard place. Either they are reduced to the indignity of being recipients of dole and charity or...
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