The D Y Patil Group has won the bid to take over, upgrade and expand the hospital owned by Mumbai Port Trust on a public-private-partnership (PPP) model.

This marks the first instance of privatisation of a hospital run by one of the 11 state-owned port trusts.

Last year, Mumbai Port Trust had sought bids from private entities to convert its 241-bed hospital into a 600-bed super speciality hospital to provide improved health care facilities to some 45,000 port employees (including pensioners) and dependents and 1.3 crore population in the catchment area on PPP basis with an investment of about ₹700 crore.

The successful PPP operator also had the option of setting up a medical college as part of the project spread over 10 acres.

The winning bid, according to the tender, would be decided based on revenue share- the entity willing to share the most from its annual gross revenue will win the 30-year contract, which can be extended by a further 30 years.

A lone bidder

The D Y Patil Group was the lone bidder to place a price bid on the tender, offering to share 0.7 per cent of its annual gross revenue with the Mumbai Port Trust.

The port authority then set up a committee, as per established procedures, to negotiate the price in which the D Y Patil Group agreed to raise the revenue share bid, shipping ministry officials said.

Accordingly, the D Y Patil Group will share 1.5% of its annual gross revenues with Mumbai Port Trust for the first 18 months of taking over the hospital, 3% for the next four years and six months and 5% for the remainder of the contract period.

“The negotiated higher price bid was cleared by the board of trustees of Mumbai Port Trust, and the project has been awarded to the D Y Patil Group,” the ministry official said, asking not to be named.

The D Y Patil Group which runs educational institutions and hospitals in Maharashtra is promoted by veteran Congress strongman D Y Patil who quit the Indian National Congress (INC) to join the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in December 2018.

A government appointed panel headed by Medical Council of India member Ved Prakash Mishra, had recommended that hospitals run by port trusts can be upgraded to super speciality hospitals and medical colleges in a report submitted in 2017.

Paradip Port Trust (PPT) has also sought bids to privatise its 64-bed hospital and upgrade it into a 400-bed super speciality hospital along with an option to build a medical college on a long- term lease of 60 years.

The plan was opposed by the port workers unions.

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