Vasant Kunj Fortis has no water supply

It is South Delhi’s biggest private hospital with more than 200 beds and is also accredited by the Quality Council of India (QCI). But Fortis Flt. Lt. Rajan Dhall Hospital in Vasant Kunj is ‘parched’. The hospital needs about 100 kilolitres per day but it doesn’t have a water permit from the Delhi Jal Board (DJB).

It is South Delhi’s biggest private hospital with more than 200 beds and is also accredited by the Quality Council of India (QCI).

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But Fortis Flt. Lt. Rajan Dhall Hospital in Vasant Kunj is ‘parched’. The hospital needs about 100 kilolitres per day but it doesn’t have a water permit from the Delhi Jal Board (DJB).

The hospital gets eight water tankers every day to meet its demand ever since the Fortis group took over the hospital from the Rajan Dhall Charitable Trust in July 2006.

The Delhi Development Authority had allotted land to the trust. The Delhi government claimed that it has no information whether they (the trust) sold the plot to Fortis.

A Right to Information (RTI) application to the QCI has revealed that the water supplied to the private hospital is by way of tankers, as the hospital does not have a water permit.

“It is ironic how the QCI, the healthcare quality regulation body, gave quality accreditation to the hospital that does not even have an approved building plan,” said Dr B.N.P. Singh, retired air force doctor who is now chief executive officer of Medivision Consultancy, a consortium of ex-defence officers.

“Till the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) does not approve the building, the DJB cannot provide a fresh water supply,” he said.

The hospital negated his claims.

“The building plans for Fortis, Vasant Kunj, are sanctioned and approved by the appropriate authorities,” said Ranjana Smetacek, director, marketing and corporate communication, Fortis. She, however, did not give HT the specific dates as to when the licences were procured.

“Our application with the Delhi Jal Board is pending. The water requirements of the hospital are being met by the daily procurement of water tankers. This water is then treated in the hospital’s state-of-the-art-water treatment plant before use,” she said.

Dr Singh has sent a copy of the RTI reply to Sujatha Rao, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, highlighting the “selective compromise” of the QCI where they have given NABH accreditation to Fortis without verifying the basic building completion documents.

On March 19, Delhi Health Minister Kiran Walia had slapped the hospital with a show-cause notice for functioning without a completion certificate from the MCD.