Wockhardt Hospitals, India's leading super speciality hospital chain, has announced its unique public-private partnership along with the Government of Gujarat to conduct and manage the 275-bedded Palanpur Civil General Hospital in Gujarat.

In the presence of Chief Minister, Narendra Modi and chairman of Wockhardt Hospitals, Habil Khorakiwala, an agreement to establish this association was signed by Anil Kamath and Vishal Bali, managing directors, Wockhardt Hospitals and A M Tiwari, commissioner health services, Government of Gujarat.

"I am glad that Wockhardt Hospitals has partnered with the state government to develop the healthcare infrastructure at the grass root level, for the progress of Gujarat," said Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat. "It is an auspicious occasion towards a new beginning for healthcare in Gujarat." He further added, "This unique public-private-partnership model adopted for Palanpur should become a role model for other states in the country."

Speaking on this occasion Khorakiwala said, "I welcome the initiative of the chief minister towards this unique public-private partnership. Wockhardt will bring in its professional expertise in managing the civil hospital at Palanpur." He further stated, "We hail from Palanpur and our emotional linkage to this place makes us more determined to make it a very successful experience".

Further commending the efforts of the Gujarat Government towards making this partnership a reality, Khorakiwala said, "This unique association will give us an opportunity to serve the community at large which is our vision for Wockhardt Hospitals."

Under the agreement, Wockhardt Hospitals' objective of managing the free and charitable Palanpur civil general hospital will be to run it efficiently within the allocated annual budget, besides providing to patients medical treatment and facilities at tariffs fixed by the Government of Gujarat. For this a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) known as 'Rogi Kalyan Samiti' will be created and will have three nominees from the Government of Gujarat. The agreement will be initially for a period of 10 years, to be renewed for another 10 years by mutual consent.

Wockhardt Hospitals will appoint a Hospital Administrator to handle the day-to-day functioning of the hospital and all the existing staff will report to him.

"We are thankful to the Government of Gujarat for this public-private partnership initiative which will definitely act as a model for other states to follow. Wockhardt Hospitals is committed to providing world-class professional treatment with care and a step in this direction is its soon-to-be commissioned super speciality hospital in Rajkot and a heart hospital in Surat," said Khorakiwala.

Wockhardt Hospitals has an association with Harvard Medical International (HMI), the international arm of Harvard Medical School, USA. The association provides Wockhardt access to the latest clinical protocols; innovations and patient care practices from 17 prestigious Harvard-affiliated hospitals in the US. Wockhardt currently runs a cluster of super speciality hospitals in Mumbai dedicated to cardiology, neurology, orthopaedics, ophthalmology and minimal access surgery. It runs dedicated super speciality hospitals in Bangalore, Nagpur, Rajkot, Surat, and Hyderabad and a super speciality kidney hospital in Kolkata.