Cabinet approves 1,000-bed multi-speciality hospital in Bengaluru for free organ transplant for poor

In a major push to benefit the poor in healthcare, the Karnataka government will facilitate setting up a 1,000-bed multi-speciality hospital meant for free organ transplants in collaboration with Azim Premji Foundation in Bengaluru.

Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil told presspersons that the government will provide 10 acres land adjacent to NIMHANS in Bengaluru to set up the hospital.

“The foundation will invest ₹ 1,000 crore for setting up the facility and is estimated to spend about ₹350 crore annually to maintain it. The government will provide land on a 99-year lease.” Facility for kidney, liver, lungs and other organ transplants will be available here, he added.

He said that while the 350-bed facility will come up in the next three years, it will be scaled up to a 1,000-bed facility over the next five years.

“It is a unique model in the country. About 70% of beds will be free and 30% will come at a nominal cost that will also be covered under the Ayushman Bharat-Arogya Karnataka scheme.”

Liver transplant facility is being offered at the Institute of Gastro Enterology Sciences and Organ Transplant Institute in Bengaluru that is functioning since 2016.

“The new facility is coming up next to NIMHANS to enable smooth harvesting and transport of organs. Three representatives from the government will be on the board that will manage the new hospital,” Dr. Patil said. “More than 5,000 patients are awaiting kidney transplant and more than 1,000 patients are awaiting liver transplant in the State,” he added.

When asked what would happen to the current facility, he said that discussions were under way to possibly hand over the management of the current facility to the foundation till the new facility comes up. “This will also allow them to experience running such a facility.”

The Cabinet also approved compensation for land owners in the Bengaluru Business Corridor for which 948 acres have been acquired. The compensation formula has been worked out with the land owners earlier.