Sole Bidder of SevenHills Hospital to restart operations, gets NCLT tribunal nod

Mumbai: The fate of SevenHills Hospital has finally been pronounced as the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has ruled in favour of BR Shetty, the sole bidder for the hospital -whose bid was challenged before the tribunal by the Founder of the hospital. With the NCLT order, the hospital is scheduled to resume operations within a couple of weeks, suggests a media report.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that Billionaire BR Shetty's Dubai-based group, NMC Healthcare was apparently the winner in the race of acquiring Seven Hills Hospital. The sole bidder for Seven Hills Hospital, the UAE based firm had received consent from BMC health department after the firm agreed to clear all outstanding dues and reserve 20% beds for needy patients as per the hospital's commitment made to the BMC.

Also Read: UAE based NMC Healthcare all set to acquire Seven Hills Hospital

However, the move was objected by SevenHills' founder-MD, Jitendra Das Maganti along with few investors. They moved the Hyderabad bench of NCLT, alleging that BR Life Healthcare was seeking benefits of being the only bidder by quoting extremely low price. Maganti further pitched against the bid claiming that he lost his Visakhapatnam hospital and a bungalow in Hyderabad to the bid and should be adequately compensated.

NCLT deliberated the matter and subsequently gave three months to all parties to arrive at a settlement.

It has now been reported that the NCLT found no anomalies in the bidding process and permitted BR Life Healthcare to restart operations at SevenHills.

"The hospital was to be reopened on Monday itself, but the inauguration has been pushed to April-end due to logistic reasons. But it will surely restart operations within two weeks," a source in the know of things told Mumbai Mirror

Commenting on the NCLT granting permission, one of the doctors said the NCLT order was a lifeline the hospital needed. "We are very hopeful of a turnaround under the new owner. We have been assured that we will receive our dues as per the court directive," the doctor told the daily.

NMC Healthcare is the largest healthcare provider in the UAE and is also listed in the London Stock Exchange. According to its website, with a team of over 2,000 doctors and 18,000 paramedical and support personnel, NMC owns and manages over 135 healthcare facilities that include hospitals, medical centres, long-term care facilities, day surgery centres, fertility clinics and home health services.