Plans to utilize the now defunct Parsi Lying-In Hospital await approval
A proposal to develop the nearly 120-year-old Parsi Lying-in Hospital into a super specialty orthopedic hospital has been forwarded to the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) for approval. The story on the now defunct maternity Hospital’s conversion was broken by DNA correspondent Manoj Nair in an article titled "Parsi hosp rent lease sparks row” on September 23, 2011.
The article mentioned that a 30-year lease was to be entered into between the Hospital management and a team of doctors led by Dr Prakash Khubchandani. The 99-year-old government lease for the Hospital expired in 1992.
BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta was quoted as saying "we are shocked at the proposal.” He estimated the property to be worth Rs 100 crores and believed that the lease rent being offered was too paltry. The Hospital trustees control the institution but the lease is held by the BPP.
In an e-mail to Parsiana Khubchandani stated "the government is the owner of the land and we will have to renew the lease on behalf of the trust, as the lease has expired about 20 years back and the trust is currently just holding the land. Also the land is reserved for hospital use only and cannot be made into a commercial building, so the rate of land is much lower than a commercial property…
"The lease rent payable to the trust is five percent of the revenue of the proposed 100 bedded hospital which is estimated to be about three to four crore rupees per year, escalating as revenues and occupancies increase. In addition, we will also be paying 50 percent of the lease rent paid to the trust, to the collector as premium every year, as the land is owned by the collector. Also if the lease is renewed, as indicated by the collector, there is expected to be a manifold increase in the annual lease rent pegged to market rates estimated at three crore rupees per year. Further, the Government will levy a redevelopment charge and premium estimated at an additional Rs 10 crores. All these charges will have to be borne by us in addition to the lease rent. Besides, the building has not been used for 15 years and is dilapidated.” The lessees would also bear the cost of relocating or compensating the present tenants/occupants one of whom is Makki Patel whose son runs Parsiana.
Khubchandani added that the sum of one crore rupees, is only the minimum guaranteed amount per year to the Hospital besides all the other charges and rents payable to the collector. "It is a completely transparent process. Besides we are investing about Rs 90 to 100 crores for construction of the orthopedic hospital, and the new hospital building will be transferred to the community after the lease period. Also we will provide free treatment to the extent of 10 percent of the inpatients and outpatients to the members of the Parsi/Irani Zoroastrian community.”
According to Nair "the Hospital covers an area of about 20,000 square feet. Since it is a protected building under architectural heritage laws, the facade of the building will be retained. ‘It is a beautiful building. We will build around it keeping the original facade as it is,’” he quoted Khubchandani. The doctor adds, "We have engaged HKS Inc., USA, leading healthcare and heritage conservation architects to design the project, to include several centers of excellence like joint replacement, spine care, sports medicine, arthritis, stem cell therapies, minimally invasive procedures, rehabilitation, etc to cater to the lifestyle of our metropolitan population...
"The 100-bed facility that will be the city’s first exclusive center for orthopedics, sports medicine, spine and neurosurgical treatment with many leading doctors like Dr Arun Mullaji specialist for joint replacement and Dr Sonu Ahluwalia, Head of Orthopedics, Cedar Sinai Hospital, USA” as well as Dr Anant Joshi and Dr Shekhar Bhoraj.
Parsi Lying-in Hospital chairman and former BPP chairman Minoo Shroff in a letter to the BPP trustees dated September 12 noted, "The said lease has expired and the trustees are merely holding the said property as tenants. The renewal of the said lease, as you all are aware, would involve manifold increase in the lease rentals, apart from clearing diverse procedural hurdles.”
Keeping in mind these problems the trust held discussions "with various healthcare companies including inter alia Escorts, Apollo, Parkway, etc. We were advised by leading doctors including Dr Rustom P. Soonawala (who is one of the trustees of our trust) that setting up a hospital for gynecology and obstetrics will not be a prudent option. We were also advised that the building potential of our property is too small to set up a multi-specialty hospital. Hence, the trustees decided to concentrate on a specialty hospital…
"Our trustees with their heart on charity and eye on economic viability and self-sustainability have evolved a foolproof watertight arrangement so as to achieve the objects of our trust and to avoid any future financial crisis as experienced by the Hospital today.”
Shroff noted that for "the negotiations and finalization of the said agreement we were represented by M/s Mulla and Mulla and Craigie Blunt and Caroe,” who are also the BPP’s solicitors.
"We now approach you (the BPP trustees) with a request to grant your authorization/ratifications to the said agreement.”
Nair’s article also quotes builder Zarir Bhathena who was earlier instrumental in forwarding a proposal from the Cathedral and John Connon School to take over the property as stating "it is okay to lease the property if the community gets a good offer.”