Mumbai’s Parsi punchayet backs hospital for non-Parsis on Parsi land

Hospital will get USD 22.5 million (about Rs143 crore) from a Hong Kong-based source

The trustees of Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP), on Thursday, supported the proposal to build a secular hospital near BD Petit Parsee General Hospital at Cumballa Hill — which is exclusively for Parsis.

The plan to build a new hospital, which will be open to other communities, on the same premises of a Prasi hospital has been a bone of contention in the community. (Representational photo)

The plan to build a new hospital, which will be open to other communities, on the same premises has been a bone of contention in the community.

The BPP trustees , the community’s largest representative body, believe the new hospital built on the surplus land next to the Parsee General Hospital, opened in 1928, will help support the trust and the hospital because it is losing Rs5 crore annually.

The hospital will get a donation of USD22.5 million (about Rs143 crore) from a Hong Kong-based source.

“The only way we can still provide subsidised treatment to the poor people from the community is by accepting funds from Medanta and letting them run a secular hospital. The private entity will only manage the new secular hospital, while the old management will continue to run the Parsee general hospital,” said Kersi Randeria, trustee, BPP.

Randeria added the hospital was unable to provide costly infrastructure to patients because there were limited patients that would visit the hospital and at other times these equipment would not be used.

However, the community members have questioned the transaction and raised issue over a private entity carrying out operations on a trust property.

Rayomand Zaiwala, an advocate, said his father had written to the BPP trustees asking them to make the details of the deed public but nothing has happened so far.

“I’m not against a secular hospital, but why is the deal being made secretly? If it is a trust property, the entire community should be informed about how much money is changing hands. It is a scam,” said Zaiwala.

Recalling a recent Supreme Court order on Batliwala Agiary Trust, Zaiwala added if an agreement was made with a private entity, then the trust should call for bids and select the highest bidder.