MP: Bhopal Memorial Hospital, likely to be handed over to State government

Bhopal: The Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Center (BMHRC), which has changed hands five times in the last six years is likely to witness another handover to the Madhya Pradesh State Government from the Union Government's Department of Health Research (DHR). The union government took over administration of BMHRC from Bhopal Memorial Hospital Trust (BMHT) in 2010. Union Minister for Health, JP Nadda, will be holding a meeting to discuss the transfer issue with top state government officials on Thursday. The BMHRC staff however, would prefer to stay on as central government employees.

The ministerial meeting being held on the eve of the 32nd anniversary of Bhopal gas disaster, is in all likelihood, going to discuss the laying down of a framework for transfer of BMHRC from Union Government's Department of Health Research (DHR) to the State Government.

Sources in the ministry state that the super specialty hospital's administration is going to be divided into two parts. The Madhya Pradesh Department of Health and Family Welfare -catering to medical services and rehabilitation; while the state Directorate of Medical Education (DME) would carry out the job of presenting an outline for Medical Education and Research. The BMHRC provides free medical care to some 5.72 lakh gas tragedy victims and their dependents.

"Getting a structured transfer is on agenda. It would be too early to give a set date for the transfer of BMHRC to MP government," said a top MP government official.

Sources said a society is likely to be formed for the administration of the hospital, after which the corpus transfer would take place.

In May, the MP state government made its 2^nd bid for an administrative transfer of BMHRC since 2014. The take over bid came after Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan urged Union Health Minister, JP Nadda to hand over BMHRC to state government.

In September, the MP Government had said that it would send a transfer proposal of the hospital cum research center to the union government. With a yearly budget of Rs.140 cr, the BMHRC is presently run by union government's Department of Health Research (DHR). There are whispers in the BMHRC of employees resenting the impending transfer, however, it is being said that a new recruitment policy with other perks is in the offing.