Rs 150 crore donation to Parsi General Hospital kicks up row

A Hong Kong-based Parsi businessman is donating Rs 150 crore to rescue the financially ailing Parsi General Hospital at Breach Candy here, exclusively meant for Parsi patients.

The philanthropic gesture by Jal Shroff and wife Pervin is mired in controversy, though, because the money is linked to a tie-up with Medanta chain of hospitals. Some Parsis fear the 105-year-old community asset may slip out of its hands and that little is known of the agreement signed between the hospital and Medanta on October 25.

The donation will be used to build a new 15-storey cosmopolitan hospital within the sprawling complex and handed over to Medanta.

Medanta, in turn, will cross-subsidize medical facilities for Parsi patients and pay the hospital an annual fee. Parsi General Hospital property vests with Bombay Parsi Punchayat (BPP).