Free medicare: BMTC to partner with private firm to build hospital

BENGALURU: The Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) could have its own super-specialty hospital in the city, if all goes as per plan.

The city transport corporation wants to take the public-private partnership route to have a facility that will provide free medical treatment to its 35,000 employees.

“The corporation will only provide prime land while the private party should construct and run the hospital. BMTC will make no capital investment,“ Nagaraj Yadav , chairman, BMTC, said.

Apparently , the corporation's board gave a go-ahead in January to prepare modalities to take up the project.

BMTC managing director Ekroop Caur said the proposal needs approval from the government. “We will write to the government shortly and the process of identifying land is underway .“

The corporation spends roughly about `10 crore every year towards medical expenses of its employees, Kaur revealed.

“We have tied up with 17 hospitals and those who visit other hospitals can get reimbursements. The corporation has eight visiting doctors and a dispensary in every bus depot,“ she noted.

Welcoming the move, N Prabhudev, former director of gover nment-run Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology, said, “This will be the best thing for BMTC's employees as 10 per cent of the population is covered by health insurance. The corporation could have a dual pricing system with different charges for the corporate sector, middle class and BMTC employees.“

The workers' union welcomed the proposal. HV Anantha Subba Rao, general secretary of KSRTC Staff and Workers' Federation, said, “This is better than using the land to construct commercial complexes or mega bus terminals. The corporation has taken a loan of Rs 600 crore with a 15 per cent interest to construct 12 traffic transit management centres. But the rent collected from these TTMCs is not enough to even repay 50 per cent of the interest,“ he noted.

Pointing out that the BMTC owes its employees dues (such as gratuity, LIC premium and bonus), he said, “Though the corporation has tied up with many hospitals, there are complaints of unnecessary medical investigations. While all these adds up to the bill, the BMTC reimburses less than 50 per cent of the total medical cost.“