Masina Hospital, one of Mumbai’s old est charitable health institutions, has signed an agreement with the Chennai-based Apollo to set up an allnew 300-bed hospital. The new hospital, which will be cobranded Masina-Apollo, will be built on four-acre land available within the sprawling Masina campus in Byculla.The existing hospital, which is run out of a heritage structure, once home to businessman and philanthropist David Sassoon, will stay untouched and is likely to be modernised with hefty royalties received from the new setup. While both Masina and Apollo on Wednesday confirmed that a series of meetings have taken place between the two, they refused to divulge details.
Apollo Hospitals, founded by Dr Prathap C Reddy in 1983, runs hospitals in India, Bangladesh, Kuwait and Qatar. Masina-Apollo will be a super-specialty facility with a dedicated transplant center, state-of-the-art trauma care set-up and centers for robotic surgery and neurosciences. Other specialties will include diabetes and obesity, bariatric surgery, pediatric heart surgeries, pediatric urology, and cardiovascular and thoracic surgery.
Masina is one of south Mumbai’s most popular hospitals, known for its well-equipped burns centre, psychiatry department and deaddiction center. The hospital lately, however, has been facing a fund crunch.
Using Diwali as an opportunity, the hospital in 2015 sent out letters to its patrons, past and present, requesting them to open up their hearts and purse strings and reminding them of all the good work the hospital has done. The hospital contacted at least 1,000 patrons who have contributed to the hospital’s coffers over the past 25 years.
The then medical director of Masina Dr Premraj Battalwar had told Mumbai Mirror that the hospital was running losses. “We need new equipment urgently. Good doctors won’t join unless we upgrade,“ he had said.
Sources said Masina hospital trust chairman Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry has been involved directly in negotiations with Apollo management.
Dr Vispi Jokhi, medical director, Masina Hospital, confirmed talks with Apollo but refused to get into details of the negotiations. “Yes we have had meetings with Apollo group, but nothing has been finalised yet,“ he said.
The spokesperson for Apollo Hospitals refused to comment.