Can take land back from Seven Hills if terms not met: civic body

The hospital has already started functioning.

“The municipal commissioner has the power to take the lease agreement back,” said Mayor Shraddha Jadhav. “If they (the hospital authorities) do not agree to our terms and do not sign the MOU,then we can take our land back,” she added.

According to BMC officials,Seven Hills Health Care Ltd,which has got 17 acres of land from the BMC on public-private partnership (PPP) basis,has not agreed to three of the six main terms of agreement. The BMC had issued the tender for the project in 2002 and signed the agreement with the hospital in December 2005,for a period of 60 years.

“We are planning to re-open the Seven Hills Hospital proposal and then decide what needs to be done if the BMC’s agreements are not fulfilled,” said Sunil Prabhu,a Shiv Sena corporator. The corporators said the issue will be taken up either in the Improvements Committee or in the House.

According to sources,the terms not agreed upon by the hospital so far include: reservation of 20 per cent beds in ICU; charging the BMC-referred patients as per civic hospital’s rates; and having a two BMC representatives on their board of directors.

“The MOU which has not yet been signed should be signed only when all these terms of agreement are fulfilled,” a corporator said requesting anonymity. “How could the hospital start functioning when most of the BMCs terms were not agreed upon,” asked another corporator.