The Foundation will invest ₹4,000 crore over the next five years for developing the hospital on leased 10 acres within the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases campus.
Published Jan 18, 2026 | 5:21 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 18, 2026 | 5:21 PM
Seventy-five percent of the beds of the planned hospital will be offered at zero cost to patients, while the remaining beds will be priced at rates comparable to government tertiary hospitals.
Synopsis: A couple of public health experts sounded apprehensive over the government’s move to develop a large hospital on the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases campus. They felt that institutions that begin as charitable ones later turn into profit-seeking units.
Questions have been raised over the Karnataka government’s move to partner with the Azim Premji Foundation to develop a 1,000-bed charitable super-speciality and multi-organ transplant hospital in Bengaluru.
On paper, the project promises free and affordable care for thousands of people. However, public health experts and activists raised questions about the role of the government, private foundations, and the idea of healthcare as a right.
The office of the Minister for Medical Education and Skill Development stated that the hospital would focus on serving vulnerable and underserved populations, while also strengthening the city’s public health system.
A key promise of the project is affordability. “Seventy-five percent of the beds will be offered at zero cost to patients, while the remaining beds will be priced at rates comparable to government tertiary hospitals,” Dr Sharan Prakash Patil’s office said in a media statement.
This will provide advanced treatment access to people who otherwise cannot afford private healthcare.
Besides offering multiple specialities with a strong focus on organ transplantation, the hospital will also contribute to medical education and research.
The Foundation will invest ₹4,000 crore over the next five years for developing the hospital on leased 10 acres within the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases campus. The government will provide the land on lease for 99 years.
A not-for-profit entity, set up by the Foundation, will operate the hospital.
Officials said the government will have representation in the hospital’s governing board. The institute will operate with a public-interest mandate.
The facility is expected to become fully operational within five years after land lease and approvals are completed.
Public health doctor Dr Sylvia Karpagam has raised concerns about the broader model of such partnerships. She felt that healthcare should ideally be funded and managed directly by the government using taxpayers’ money.
“Ideally, taxpayers’ money should be budgeted for government-owned and managed health facilities,” she told South First. She also pointed out that public-private partnerships in healthcare did not work well in the past. She termed them “an abysmal failure.”
Dr Karpagam felt that strict conditions should be set if a private entity is funding a hospital.
She stressed that the private organisation should not have any say in decision-making, staff appointments, grievance redressal, bed allocation, or administrative matters. Charges should also not be decided by a private entity.
She further stated that such projects should not be driven by expectations of financial returns. There should also be clear legal terms on who owns the hospital. Without these safeguards, she warned, public interest could slowly be compromised.
Health activist Akhila Vasan from Karnataka Janaarogya Chaluvali questioned the very idea of relying on philanthropy for essential healthcare. She argued that if healthcare is a right, it should not depend on charitable funding.
“If we believe healthcare is a right and not someone’s charity, then why do we need philanthropic organisations to fund and operate hospitals?” she asked while speaking to South First. She also questioned why the government cannot increase its own health budget instead.
Vasan pointed out that many public-private partnerships in Karnataka began with similar promises but later failed.
She recalled that the chief minister had last week announced that all PPPs would be scrapped and that government medical colleges would be set up in every district.
“If PPPs were not considered good for districts, what makes this venture good for the people?” she asked.
She warned that such projects could slowly shift away from public service. There is a risk that a “public-spirited” hospital could turn into a profit-driven centre focused on medical tourism, she opined.
Vasan further stressed that the people of Karnataka required healthcare as a guaranteed right, not as an act of charity that might change its nature over time.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
