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Ambanis help revitalise Mumbai hospital
Manju AB
Mumbai, Jan 9: After the material comes the spiritual. The Ambanis are no different. Having stormed the marketplace and the stock market, Reliance has discovered the art of philanthropy. And, what better way than to revitalise a hospital in the city of Mumbai.The beneficiary of the Reliance largesse:Sir Hurkishondas Nurrotumdas Hospital at Charni Road in Mumbai. The bonanza: Rs 100 crore. The company has already joined the board of trustees and forked out Rs 70 crore for the modernisation of one of the city's oldest hospital. The rest Rs 30 crore is in the pipeline.Reliance's generosity will help complete the on-going building construction and equip the hospital with state-of-the-art equipment for tertiary health care facilities like cardiac catheterisation laboratory, nuclear medicine department and so on.Speaking to The Financial Express, president of the hospital trust, Balakrishna Mehta said: ``On December 2, 1997 a memorandum of understanding was signed between Sir Hurkisondas Nurrotumdas Hospital
trust and Reliance Industries for a joint trusteeship. We will be working together on various projects of the hospital in future, but it is still too premature to say anything further at this stage.'' Reliance managing director Anil Ambani has already joined the board of directors of the hospital. It is believed that he may take over as the chairman of the hospital later.The hospital, under the Ambanis, is expected to be run on commercial lines along with philanthropic activities such as offering the best medical facilities for the needy at concessional rates.Sources within the hospital suggest that corporate houses want to have a vent for some philanthropic activity. Starting a hospital is the best way to reach out to the deprived section of the society. The Hindujas, the Tatas are running hospitals in the tertiary health sector, and Reliance is just merely following the trend. The hospital was started in 1925 by Sir Hurkisondas Nurrotumdas, who wanted to equip the hospital with the best medical facilitiesin the country. The hospital started out modestly with just a one-storey structure with 40 beds, half of them free in keeping with the charitable objective of Nurrotumdas.As part of its expansion plans, the hospital had acquired an adjacent plot of land and a 21-storey complex with an exclusive basement car park facility is currently under construction. Fourteen floors has already been completed and the remaining part of the construction is expected to be complete in another year. On completion the hospital is expected to have a total of 585 beds.The hospital is already gearing up to be the best in the city. There are also number of new facilities, like the cardiac catheterisation laboratory, four new operation theatres apart from the ones already existing with the latest equipment, Neo-natology department, solar water-heating system, generator & incinerator,and nuclear medicine department are some of the new facilities which are exclusive to the hospital. The hospital has recently started a new centre for
heart treatment. Called the Indo-American Cardivascular Centre exclusively for diagnosis and treatment of cardiac and vascular disease.The centre, which is built at a cost of Rs 7 crore, possesses the latest technologies, including the Advantrix LCV, that enables a whole body angiography and angioplasty.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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