Kasturba Medical College and Hospital has proposed to the State government that it is interested in managing the Government Wenlock Hospital here on a 30-year lease. The proposal was submitted a fortnight ago.
The college has been using the hospital since the 1950s for providing clinical experience to its students. It has also been providing services of specialists and diagnostic facilities to the hospital.
The proposal comes at a time when the government has proposed to start a government medical college in the city by attaching the Wenlock Hospital to it.
The government has made an arrangement with JJM Medical College, Davangere for using the government hospital in Davangere for providing clinical experience to its students.
The KMC pays about Rs. 2 crore a as clinical fee to the Wenlock Hospital. It was also bearing salaries of the housekeeping staff and the security staff. The KMC also runs its own hospital near Ambedkar Circle and at Attavar. It was in June 2014 that Health and Family Welfare Minister U.T. Khader proposed to set up a government medical college in the city. The Minister had said the KMC, which was associated with the Wenlock Hospital for long, should be given time to move out of the premises.
Admitting of the receipt of the proposal, Mr. Khader told The Hindu that the KMC had given a detailed note to the Arogya Raksha Samiti of the Wenlock Hospital headed by Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim.
The samiti would have to deliberate on the matter and place it before his department.
Mr. Khader said that they would look at imposing conditions such as asking the KMC to provide treatment facilities at the Wenlock hospital and manage it as per the standards prescribed by the Medical Council of India.
“We have to look at conditions that should be imposed for managing our hospital,” Mr. Khader said. “We, however, do not want to give up the administrative control over the hospital,” he added.
